Above the Underneath
by Dreamyin
Summary: "Careful Sensei. Look too closely underneath the underneath and you may fail to see what is right in front of you." Kakashi regarded the blond pensively, before he eye-smiled. "You have grown up a lot from the five-year-old I babysat Naruto." Non-Yoai, Teacher-student-bond. Including ANBU Kakashi as "Inu".
1. Chapter 1

**Title:** Above the Underneath

**Summary**: "Careful Kakashi-sensei. Look too closely underneath the underneath and you may fail to see what is right in front of you." Kakashi regarded the blond pensively for a moment, before he eye-smiled. "You have grown a lot from the hyperactive five-year-old that I babysat."

**Author**: Dreamyin

**Story-type**: Short story

**Main characters**: Naruto and Kakashi

**Themes:** Friendship, Comfort, Humor,

Somehow, I always thought that there had to be more to Kakashi's relation to Naruto (not in a romantic way!) seeing as he should have probably known that Naruto is his sensei's son. Made after flashes of inspiration were had started haunting me after I realised the disadvantage of the famous statement: look underneath the underneath. I tend to make the same mistake often – look too closely at details - so here is the start of a short story, which hopefully reminds everyone to remember the things close to you and their/its worth.

**Above the Underneath**

By Dreamyin

**~Five years after the Kyuubi attack~ **

The check-up had gone like any other. It was a simple routine of bringing the young Naruto the supplies that they had let Genin gather, asking him how he was feeling, finding out if anyone had been bothering him before sending the young boy off to bed so that he could report back to Hokage-sama, after which he could go home and prepare for the next mission tomorrow.

"Inu-san."

The masked individual automatically tensed slightly as felt something grab at the leg of his pants, before he forced himself to relax, seeing as it was just the blond hyperactive blond boy that he was… keeping an eye on. He refused to call it babysitting of all things - an ANBU like him _didn't_ do _babysitting_. Reminding himself repeatedly of this fact, the masked ANBU turned towards the young boy that was still pulling on his trousers to get his attention.

"Hai Naruto-kun?" He inquired in his usual soft whisper-like drawl, which allowed his voice to become slightly unrecognisable.

"Why is people so mean?"

"Why _are_ people so mean." The ninja automatically corrected, while stalling for time to come up with a way to approach this question at the same time.

Was the boy actually asking _him_ of all people?

"Why are people so mean?" The five year old repeated obediently as he continued to stare up at him with large sad eyes, making the ANBU feel slightly uncomfortable.

Why didn't he even pause to consider brushing the question aside, like Inu knew he could easily do?

Why did Naruto's eyes have to become so puppy-like?

Most importantly, why couldn't the brat ask Hokage-sama when he visited?

Still, seeing as the boy had just actually asking him of all people, the ninja crouched down with a mental sigh to get on eye-level with the boy. The boy's eyes trailed over the design of his mask, obviously curious as always as to what was behind it, before they settled on the faint outline of the his right eye that was mostly hidden in the shadows of his mask. The young boy wrung his hands as he constantly shifted his weight from one foot of another in a rather nervous manner.

Truthfully, Naruto was afraid of the answer.

'What if it really is my fault?' The five-year-old couldn't help but wonder, biting his lip.

Meanwhile, the ANBU was musing on how to talk to the boy without getting himself in trouble… and without upsetting the boy too much.

'Can't be that difficult...' He thought sarcastically as he fought down the urge to run his hand through his hair – which he couldn't since it was hidden by a black bandana.

He really wasn't made for this kind of stuff.

Putting a hand on the boy's shoulder, the ANBU squeezed it slightly. "It's not your fault Naruto-kun." He started, knowing very well what was going through the kid's head.

At that reassurance, the child's stance immediately looked more relaxed as Naruto felt a part of the weight drop from his shoulders.

"People are strange Naruto-kun." The ninja carefully explained the boy after some consideration. "They copy each other's behaviour. One person may be nice, but they are lost in the crowd of less nice people that surrounds them. Not everyone is mean. You just have to find them and show them that you are nice too."

The child's face scrunched up in confusion.

"I don't get it." He muttered and he silently wondered if Inu was willing to make him understand.

Still, Inu had always seemed the most patient of the masked people. It hadn't taken long for Naruto to feel drawn to the man even though Inu had been very distant in the beginning. The ANBU was usually introverted and he always seemed to speak with riddles, but there was something about his lazy attitude that Naruto admired.

It hadn't taken that long for Naruto to conclude that Inu was cool. He was strong and he made Naruto feel safe. The blond wanted to be just like him, but no matter what he did, the villagers always seemed to give him mean looks.

Inu grunted, but he didn't sound very surprised at Naruto's confusion. "Ma… What if I told you that I carved a smiley face into a tree somewhere in the forest and told you to look for it? Would you find it immediately?" He questioned instead, careful to let the child work it out on his own.

The child's expression turned thoughtful and the shinobi waited patiently for the child to come to a conclusion. Eventually young child pouted.

"No…" He agreed, though obviously not happy with it. "So I have to search very good?"

The ninja let the mistake slip for this once. "Not necessarily. You could also just walk around patiently and keep an eye open to see if there are more trees with smiley faces around."

The young boy stared at him with wide eyes, before he grinned happily. "I will! Then I will make them like me!"

The boy faltered. "Will they like me?"

"As long as you make sure that they look underneath the underneath." Inu confirmed and smiled as he ruffled his hair.

"Huh what do you mean?" Inu-san wasn't making any sense to the boy.

There was a wry tone to the ANBU's voice. "You will understand when you are older."

At least, he expected that the blond would.

"You always say that!" The young boy protested with a huff of annoyance.

"What? Are you going to change my mind?" He challenged the boy and smirked wryly behind his mask as he saw a familiar mischievous glint reappear in the boy's eyes.

"Hell yes!" The boy shouted, waggling his fingers at him and laughed. It was good to see him act like his usual - _loud_ - self once more.

"Ma... Language Naruto-kun." He said as he allowed the young boy to 'tickle' him.

The boy was getting better, the ninja admitted as he tensed his muscles to avoid reacting to that tiny ticklish spot at his left side that the brat always seemed to target– his teammates would laugh at him if they would ever find out that Naruto had caught him off guard once. After a minute or two, he cracked his knuckles, causing Naruto to tense.

"No." The boy pleaded, edging away from him.

Inu simply smirked as he spoke up. "My turn."

Naruto had tried to run away, but he was easily pulled back as Inu grasped the collar of his shirt.

"No! No! No In-HAHAHAHA! WAI-! HAHAHAH!"

"Mercy?"

"N-HAHAHA-NEVER!"

Something sparkled in the ANBU's eye as he watched the young boy struggle to get away of this wiggling fingers.

"You sure?"

"HAHA- Believe it!"

It were moments like these that reminded him that babysit- er… these check-ups were not boring after all.

**~ Two years later ~**

"Inu-san!"

The happy cry that gave the ANBU an extra warning of what came next. Not that the man needed it. He had already felt the boy's signature move towards him the moment he had arrived. Not to mention that Naruto was wearing that bright _orange _jacket of all things that made his ninja-mind flinch, which made it actually difficult for him not to notice him.

He shook his head, deciding not to get into another argument about the 'coolest colour of all time' with the boy this time.

So, being more than prepared for the orange tackle, Inu carefully caught the boy under his armpits and swirled the bundle of energy around, completely ignoring the fact that the brat had charged at him with the intention to knock him to the ground.

"I haven't seen you in like ages!" The orange-lover cried, easily forgetting his previous plan as he let himself swirl around.

"I came check up on you about a week ago." The man answered dryly, settling the boy back on the ground.

"Still!" The boy exclaimed rather loudly, waving off his comment with his hand. "I like you better than the other ANBU. They are even more boring than you."

"They surely can't be that bad." Inu retorted in amusement. 'Wait till I tell them.'

"They are!" The boy protested.

"Ma…Ninja shouldn't be so loud Naruto. What do they teach you in the Academy?" He chided as he scanned through the cupboards in the kitchen. He sighed at the large amount of Ramen that he spotted.

It had been a rethorical question of course, but Naruto didn't seem to notice as he started rambling about everything he had learned up until now.

'In still a bit higher volume than was necessary.

Need to make sure the others shouldn't take him too seriously when they ask what he wants.' He mused, absently listening to the rambling Naruto, as he saw that another cupboard was nearly completely filled with instant Ramen.

"Then we started to talk about chakra, but he was being so boring about it that I nearly fell asleep! I still don't understand how Shikamaru manages to-"

A sweat drop rolled down the back of the ANBU's head as he closed the cupboard. Turning around, he reached over to cover the child's mouth with his hand, muffling the rapid stream of words that escaped.

"Sometimes, you should use your inner voice… or practise whispering." He told the young boy pointedly as he removed his hand just as a glint appeared in the child's eye.

Even though he wore gloves, Naruto was not above trying to lick him – or bite him – if he kept his hand there for too long.

The boy pouted and crossed his arms over his chest. "You are no fun Inu-san."

For a moment, Inu wasn't sure whether he meant his advice or the fact that he had removed his hand before he could do anything.

Inu wisely ignored the comment, but Naruto was sure that he was rolled his eyes behind his mask in some way. Suddenly, the blond academy student smirked and jumped towards up the ninja, whose hand automatically reached out and wrapped it around Naruto's outstretched one.

"Aw come on!" The future-ninja protested as he dangled in the air, with his feet inches away from the ground.

"ANBU wear a mask for a reason brat." The ANBU pointed out, familiar with the game that Naruto was playing.

Ever since he had been six, Naruto had been fascinated about how he would look and had not been content anymore with the mere 'ANBU can't show their faces to anyone but the Hokage'-excuse. Oddly enough, he only tried to steal Inu's mask, but the ANBU suspected that Naruto simply felt that he get away with it when it concerned Inu, in contrast to the other ANBU.

Which was actually true.

Ignoring the pointed look he imagined Inu to be given him, Naruto protested. "I wouldn't tell anyone!"

"That doesn't matter."

"You can trust me! I wouldn't tell anyone. Believe it!" The boy cried out again and Inu paused at his rather odd statement.

There were those small moments in which the blond would take him off guard.

He still wasn't sure how he felt about that.

"I believe you." He answered the boy, causing him to still and look at him with big eyes. "But I still won't show you." He continued, causing the boy to look upset.

'That won't do.' The ANBU thought, wracking his brain for a comment to distract Naruto.

"Besides…you are already very special with having me around. Normal people don't even see us like this."

The corner of Naruto's lips twitched at that comment, unable not to laugh at the lazy arrogance that the man displayed.

"Psh, you don't seem special at all." The boy grumbled under his breath trying to keep his poker-face intact. It cracked as the shinobi playfully shook him, causing him to break out laughing.

The Academy student didn't have any warning, as the ANBU suddenly threw the boy ever so slightly into the air – earning a yelp from the blond in the process. He caught him easily, though this time the boy was hanging upside down as he was holding onto his foot.

"You sure know how to make someone feel special." Inu mocked back, to which the child grinned up at him, not at all faced by his little stunt.

"Ah come on! Can't you even give me a quick peak? Or take off your bandana for a second." The boy pleaded while swaying slightly to side to side, as he glared up at his favourite somewhat-guardian-slash-protector.

Unseen to the younger boy, the lips behind the mask formed curled into a smirk. "My blue hair would be rather distracting for people."

Naruto's eyes widened in disbelief.

"Blue?" His lips formed into a tight-lipped smile, before he busted out laughing. "Blue! Hahaha!"

Kakashi chuckled softly as well, but it was muted by the – once again loud – laughter of the boy in front of him.

"Or was it orange?" He suddenly wondered, tapping his mask with his free hand.

The boy stopped laughing at that. "Huh?"

"Though green might also be a possibility."

By now the boy knew that he had simply been messing with him and pouted. "Aw that's not fair!" The seven-year-old told the shinobi, before playfully trying to kick his chest.

Releasing the boy, he allowed himself to be used as kick-off surface and watched as Naruto dropped quietly to the ground into a roll and ended into a low crouch. This pleased the shinobi – at least he knew how to be quiet in other areas – before he took note of the sudden hunch in the boy's shoulders. Straightening from his position, but still hunching his shoulders, the boy looked down at his feet.

"Ne, Inu-san."

"Yes?"

"Will I ever see your face?" The boy silently asked, looking up. It was clear to the ninja that his eyes were heavier than before.

The ANBU eyed the child in front of him silently, causing the boy to look away in a rather twitchy manner.

"_Maybe_." He allowed, unable to lie. "As long as you look underneath the underneath." He continued before ruffling the boy's hair.

"You keep saying that!"

The ANBU hummed thoughtfully.

"Don't act like I'm not listening to you. I'm trying to do look underneath the underneath!" The boy argued, pointing to his mask.

"Not that literally, brat." The tone sounded amused.

"Inu-baka."

"Keep that up and you will never see it Gaki-kun." The man teased him.

"Meanie!"

**~One year later ~ **

"Naruto."

The eight-year-old frowned in his sleep and turned around. "Five more minutes." He mumbled sleepily.

"Naruto. Wake up." The tone was more urgent and commanding, causing the boy to sit up rather abruptly.

"What?" He asked, rubbing the sleep away from his eyes. They fixated on the ninja in front of him.

"Inu?"

"I came to say goodbye."

The boy froze as he heard the last words come from his lips. "G-goodbye?" He echoed, trembling slightly.

The ANBU simply nodded and remained silent.

Instead of staying frozen, breaking down, or shouting at him, like the ANBU had expected, the child launched himself towards the shinobi. Unfortunately the sheets twisted around his legs in the process, which caused the blond to tumble out of the bed. Luckily for the boy, ANBU did not have quick reflexes for nothing though and Inu caught the boy just before he landed nose-first on the floor.

Gently righting the boy and settling him on his feet and moved away the tangled sheets, he was all too aware of the tears that were building up in the corners of the blond's eyes. He sighed sadly, knowing that this was going to be one of those lousy moments as he removed the last of the sheets away from the boy's feet.

In the meantime, Naruto stared at the ninja in front of him silently, his mind reeling with what that one sentence meant. For a moment he was wondering if this was a dream. Just a simple nightmare, but biting on his lip, proved it to be very real.

So what did that mean? Inu was actually leaving him?

Emotions surged its ugly head in the boy's mind and he forcefully told himself to calm down. He managed to keep it stable for a while, like Inu had always told him to calm down when he got too excited. Yet, as he watched the ANBU throw the sheet back onto the bad and look him in the eye, Naruto suddenly couldn't take keep silent anymore.

"WHY?" He cried out, grasping the armour that the ninja wore and tried to draw closer than Inu was usually comfortable with.

He buried leaned his forehead on the cold armour and gritted his teeth in anger. His knuckles went white from the force he used. Tears were slowly rolling down his face as he tried to see into the faintly visible eye behind the mask.

"Naruto." The ANBU gently drawled in his usual disfigured voice.

Naruto wasn't listening. He was too angry. Too confused. It wasn't fair! He had just recently been able to get Iruka-sensei to see him and then his precious person had to go?

"WHY ARE YOU LEAVING ME?" The eight-year-old demanded. Tears were dropping on the ground now, but the demon container didn't seem to care.

"Naruto."

One of the few precious people that seemed to like him was leaving and he didn't even seem sad about it.

"DID I DO SOMETHING? WHY ARE YOU LEAVI-"

"Naruto!"

The boy's mouth closed with a soft snap at the abrupt raise of the man's voice. He never did that. Was he really that angry?

Sighing mentally, Inu could read the heavy emotional conflict in the boys' eyes. He slowly putt his hands over the boy's clenched ones and proceeded to pry them calmly away from his armour. Keeping them in his hands to prevent Naruto from clutching his armour again, he crouched down. Hurt flickered through the boy's eyes, making his stomach turn.

For some reason, by simply being around him, the boy always seemed to be able to draw out all his deeply hidden emotions. Even one of his trusted colleagues had once commented on how he protective he was around the boy. Inu had to admit that he did indeed care about the boy, which caused a lot of conflicts alone.

Like the one they were having right now.

"I'm going on a mission." Inu explained, causing the boy to widen his eyes.

Confusion, understanding and fear flickered across the boy's face before it returned to a form of acceptance.

_I am not leaving you because I want to._

"Oh." Naruto's mouth formed a small circle at the realisation.

A few seconds later, his cheeks heated up and he looked away from the man, tugging on his hands to free them. Inu allowed his hands to slip away after a soft squeeze and waited for the boy to calm down.

Naruto couldn't help but feel tremendously relieved.

"How long?" He asked, subtly trying to wipe his eyes dry with the back of his hand.

"I'm unsure."

"Long?"

"Long." Inu confirmed.

"It's a dangerous mission?" Naruto asked, even though he didn't make it sound much like a question.

For being such a knucklehead sometimes, he sure had his bright moments. "Hai." Inu answered truthfully.

That seemed to upset the boy again, but Inu was not going to be soft on him on this matter. He deserved to know the truth. He deserved to know that there was a possibility that he wasn't coming back. Besides, being who he was, he needed to face reality sooner or later. Naruto was a future ninja, so he was not going to protect him from the aspects that were simply part of it.

It would only do more harm at a later date if he did.

"Naruto?" He inquired, as the boy didn't react for a while.

Instead, the child slowly took a questioning step towards him, which caused the ANBU to tense somewhat. Naruto's silent question was heard, but the ninja was unsure on how to approach it. There were only a few moments of providing comfort that the ninja participated in during his time in ANBU. More than half of these situations had been calming down a younger and upset Naruto. Sighing softly, he forced himself to relax and spread his arms just a tiny bit, allowing the boy to come closer.

'It is difficult to do it wrong.' He reminded himself.

He didn't need to ask him silently twice, for the boy practically tackled him and wrapped his arms around him rather desperately.

Inu released a deep breath and steeled his emotions. It had been a long time since he had hugged anyone. Naruto seemed to feel the same way, as he was practically trembling in his arms, unable to control his emotions.

"Be a good ninja alright?" He encouraged the boy.

The boy nodded silently.

"Don't prank Iruka-san too much."

"A little." The boy protested, smiling through his tears.

"You can cry when you are happy but try to keep it down when you are sad." He nudged the boy with his shoulder.

"Hai." Naruto agreed, whipping his eyes quickly.

The ANBU chuckled. "If you want to become Hokage, you will have a long and difficult road ahead of you."

Slowly breaking away from the hug, the boy stood tall in front of him. "Hai. I will become even stronger than you Inu-nii-san!"

The ANBU froze at the suffix, causing Naruto to do the same. The boy let out a relieved sigh as the ninja relaxed – somewhat forcefully - and patted his spiky blond hair.

"Yes, you do that. Good luck brat." He drawled. For the first time, there had always been this need for distance before; he allowed all of his affection to the boy to leak through his voice.

With a puff of smoke, the ninja was gone and Naruto – who was suddenly feeling so incredibly lonely – slipped silently back into his bed. As he stared at the ceiling, he pointedly started replaying the affection that he had heard in the man's goodbye. Having recognised the warmth in that voice, Naruto couldn't help but feel relieved.

'He cares about me too.'

However, this comfort was not enough for the boy to sleep well that night, but that didn't deter him from working twice as hard the next morning.

Iruka couldn't help but wonder why Naruto suddenly seemed even louder and more hyper than normal.

'Must be the little speech about becoming Hokage yesterday.' He decided with a smile, before his attention was drawn to a quiet snoring at the back of the class.

His eyes right twitched, and with an accuracy that surpassed many Jounin's aim with their kunai, the Chuunin threw one of his chalks towards the lazy Nara genius in the back – which hit him spot on in the middle of his forehead.

"Oi! No sleeping in class!"

The young Nara heir groaned in protest. "So troublesome…"

**~End Chapter 1~**

Interested in more? Feedback would be greatly appreciated!


	2. Chapter 2

**Title:** Above the Underneath

**Summary**: "Careful Kakashi-sensei. Look too closely at underneath the underneath and you may fail to see what is right in front of you." Kakashi regarded the blond pensively for a moment, before he eye-smiled. "You have grown a lot from the hyperactive five-year-old that I babysat."

**Beta: **None

Thanks to the few who reviewed! I'm excited that you are all so excited. Here is the next part and I would love to hear from you guys again!

Enjoy!

**~ Three months later~**

"Itadakimasu!" Naruto practically yelled for the whole stand to hear.

Next to him, the Sandaime sighed. Shaking his head silently, he thankfully nodded to Teuchi as he placed his own order in front of him. The man shot him a polite and amused smile as he headed back to make some more Ramen, seeing as the Uzumaki was famous for his huge appetite when it came to his favourite food.

Smiling silently to himself, the Hokage enjoyed the familiar sounds of the boy devouring his food. It was always a bit of a relief to be able to flee the office – that damn paperwork finally done for today – and to take pleasure in the moment of peace with the boy next to him.

Well, at least until he was alerted by a sudden change in the boy's body language.

He peered at the boy from the corner of his eyes, trying to figure out what was worrying him. He was pretty sure that it hadn't been something from the surroundings, seeing as he hadn't noticed anything himself.

'What are you thinking about Naruto-kun?' The Sandaime eventually inquired when the boy stayed silent, though he had the feeling that he already knew where this was going.

Yet, it somewhat surprised him to hear Naruto speak so softly and solemnly. "Ne, Jiji! Can you tell me when Inu-san comes back? Is he alright?"

The man paused momentarily and regarded him silently, which made Naruto twitch with annoyance.

"That is classified Naruto. You should know that. We have discussed this a couple of times already." The Hokage gently chided.

Naruto gritted his teeth slightly, his hands clenched around his chopsticks as he realised that Jiji still wasn't going to tell him anything.

"I just want to know if Inu-nii-san is alright." He grumbled under his breath, before thoughtfully stirring the noodles in his bowl.

The Hokage was somewhat thrown of guard by the suffix – so Kakashi had indeed allowed himself to grow that close to him after all? – before he lowered his head slightly as he wondered how to approach this. After all, Inu-san would most likely be on constant missions at least another a few months before…

Inu would be no more.

The ANBU missions had been affecting him. Hiruzen had seen it happen so many times, that it was easy for him to tell the signs. Every ninja was different in how long they managed to hold out. Very few were able to live for nearly fifteen years in the ANBU forces before they stepped out. Others five. Some eight. Others… they died in battle.

Even Kakashi, as much as the man was able to ignore his own emotions, the Hokage had seen the tiny cracks forming after many years in ANBU. The death of his precious people had hit the man hard – oh so very hard – that his emotions had nearly been killed in the process. This ability to tap into this cold ignorance of his emotions made him perfect for ANBU, but Minato would not have wanted him to die like that. He would not have wanted his student to feel so emotionless for the rest of his life.

So, partly as not to face the wrath of his student in the afterlife, the Sandaime had been determined to stir the little emotion that was left.

It had been the Hokage who had manipulated Kakashi in taking the check-up-on-Naruto duty more often than others.

It had been Naruto himself though, who had made the man relax more often when he was off guard. They boy had helped Kakashi more than he would probably ever know with that mysterious gift of his.

Over the last couple of years, Kakashi had slowly put things behind him and moved on – as much as a ninja with such a loss could – and Hiruzen was not going to let this change be for nothing.

No matter how much the Sandaime would have to argue with the council - seeing as Kakashi still was a _very_ good ANBU captain - he was not going to let himself be shoved around on matters like this.

And whether Kakashi like it or not, Inu would dissolve in the shadows and Kakashi wouldn't be allowed to hide behind - another - mask anymore.

"Naruto-kun." He spoke up calmly, watching the brooding boy pick himself up from nearly planting his whole face in the bowl.

"Your dog is fine." He told the Academy student, which made a large smile blossom on his face.

The old man forcefully pushed away the guilt that he felt. He would deal with Inu's 'death' later. For the moment, he would let the fire within young boy next to him - which he cared about tremendously - burn for a little longer.

He just hoped that his necessary meddling wouldn't smother it.

**~About a two months later~**

Unsurprisingly, Naruto wasn't happy when he finally did tell the boy that he wouldn't see the ANBU anymore.

As expected, Kakashi hadn't been very happy with his 'sudden and unexpected' leave either, but actually seemed relatively calm about it after he had had some time to cool off – and in the process had destroyed nearly two training grounds after the Hokage had send him away to get rid of his frustrations.

That didn't change the old man's mind though.

Besides losing his responsibilities as ANBU captain, the Hokage suspected that Kakashi's largest regret from quitting the ANBU was to lose his relationship with Naruto. Still, after a good talk the now Jounin was unable to deny that he might need a break from the ANBU.

"I'm sorry for doing this Kakashi, but it is for the best."

Luckily, the Sandaime didn't have to explain to the man that he would have to keep his previous relationship with Naruto a secret. The man was a full supporter of the idea that 'what happened in ANBU, stayed in the ANBU'. After all, Kakashi was a ninja and still a very good ANBU by heart. He knew the risks and the dangers for Naruto should word get out that he and Inu were connected in any way.

It was for this reason that once the official order was spoken, the ninja handed over his familiar mask, his second identity and let his relationship with his sensei's son disappear along with it.

"What happened in ANBU, will stay in the ANBU." He muttered, locking his heavy gaze with the Hokage's.

"Indeed."

The only indication that Kakashi had a little resentment left after the turn of events was a tiny comment during the first debriefing of a mission as Jounin.

Just after he had entered, the masked man had turned a page of a certain orange book and stood there with an air of his usual indifference. The Hokage easily noticed that the man in front of him wasn't even looking at the words that were written there, so he hadn't been surprised when Kakashi made eye contact with his Hokage and asked just one tiny innocent question.

"So…Did Naruto pester you about bringing his lost dog back yet?"

He didn't mention it again after that.

**~A few months later~**

"Hatake-san."

"Hmm?" A single lazy eye drew away from the page it had been focused on and glanced down towards the Chuunin that had called out to him from the ground. The branch he was sitting on was one of the few spots that the masked Jounin bothered to return somewhat regularly to for some reading.

The branch of the tree had a very comfortable angle to lean against the bark. The afternoon sun and the cooler breezes that reached him made the temperature just right. It wasn't high enough to be unable to keep an eye on the people that passed by, but not low enough for him to be noticed. The spot was also silent enough to properly focus on his reading, while not silent enough to make him paranoid. All in all, it had been the perfect spot to do some undisturbed reading…

Though seeing as it was the second time that his reading was being disrupted, it seemed that this was not the case anymore.

What a shame.

"Ah Umino-san." He returned the greeting in a nonchalant manner. "Can I help you?"

He wasn't really bothered that much by being disturbed by the man. He remembered the way that the Chuunin had been protecting Naruto in the hills when spies had infiltrated the land. Not to mention the manner in which Iruka had became a figure of guidance to the boy… much like he had been when he had been babysi- Kakashi forcefully shook his head, pushing the thoughts aside.

What happened in ANBU, _stayed_ in ANBU.

Judging by the expression of the Chuunin, Iruka was slightly embarrassed at having disturbed his free time. "I'm sorry for intruding again." He said, ducking his head ever so slightly, causing Kakashi's eye to narrow.

'He's not coming for business then.' Kakashi realised, easily reading the man's body language. 'That means that this might be a more personal approach… ' He deduced and sighed mentally, as it didn't take long for him to assume where this conversation would most likely be heading.

"Maa… I was planning to leave anyway." The ninja suddenly decided - easily lied - much like the last time and easily dropped down the tree. The Chuunin politely took a step back to give him some space to land. Kakashi purposely ignored this, kept the book in his hand and turned away from the man.

"Again?" The man called out, sounding slightly sceptical this time.

"Hai. Well, if I can't help you then I will take my leave. I have somewhere to be – in a few hours - and you never know how busy the traffic might be." He drawled, slipping into his pile of excuses almost automatically.

They were so easy to use. Nearly everyone would be far too exasperated to react in time to stop him from slipping away without making it seem like he was actually slipping awa-

"Hatake-san."

Well there were of course some exceptions once in a while, Kakashi admitted with a mental sigh.

The Chuunin stared at the Jounin's back as he paused in his step – unable to see the disappointed expression flash on the man's face – and narrowed his eyes.

"_Thank you_."

He sounded so unprofessionally sincere as well.

'Damn.' Kakashi thought, realising that he had been right about the man's intentions.

He should have fled while he had the chance.

"I'm not sure what you mean." Kakashi drawled instead. "Now if you exc-"

He paused as the Chuunin snorted.

'Did he just _snort_ at me?' The realisation caused the ninja look away from his book and over his shoulder to the Chuunin, who was silently shaking his head, to confirm that the man indeed seemed to have _snorted_ at him.

Now, that was not a reaction he got everyday.

The Chuunin locked his eyes with his and put his hands on his hips in somewhat – just ever so slightly – intimidating manner. "I just wanted to thank you for the advice about that you gave me a about an half year ago. I just realised that I never really did come around to thank you for it. Not only that, but you also came to my aid to protect Naruto. So thank you for allowing me to become a good teacher to him." He said with a smile.

Kakashi shifted his weight on his other foot, wondering what would be the best reactions that he should show.

Iruka though, seemed to notice this a little too quickly. With a frown, the Chuunin looked at him thoughtfully, probably looking for some kind of reaction – that Kakashi carefully suppressed – and sighed.

"We would have been in big trouble, had you not intervened. So thank you for looking out for Naruto."

"It is my duty as a Konoha Jounin to look out for the well being of the people and ninja of this village." The masked ninja excused, turning back around, silently hoping that this was all. That he would look out for Naruto trice as much than anyone else he left unsaid.

"I see. You are not good with accepting gratitude." The Chuunin concluded. He swore that he saw the man's shoulders twitch, but couldn't be too sure as it was suppressed to fast for him to be sure.

"Ja ne."

Kakashi 'casually' walked away, mentally hitting himself for getting riled up like that.

"I hope that Naruto's Jounin sensei will look after him like he did." He heard Iruka mutter thanks to his sharp hearing.

Kakashi agreed with the man whole-heartedly.

**~ Three years later ~ **

For the next couple of years, watching the boy that he had come to care from afar had become more of a habit that Kakashi would like to admit.

Still, it did not stop him from keeping an eye on the boy. He could see that Inu's disappearance had hit the boy hard and he couldn't deny that he missed interacting with the boy as well – no matter how loud his rather bright presence could be.

It had always been a welcome change to the dark mission he had come back from.

There was no time for the Jounin to become friends with the boy though, he was too busy with missions, nor would it be wise if he actually had the time. A sudden friendship between the famous Copycat and Kyuubi-container would draw a lot of suspicion. At the age that Naruto was now, he would be very vulnerable if someone would use Naruto against him. Even though his colleagues were honourable ninja and he often trusted them with his life, there were many ways in which information could leak.

So the best what he could do was to keep an eye out for the boy in between his missions. He might not be on the official duty anymore, but he was still determined to protect the boy.

The Copycat was not surprised that the Hokage seemed to have been keeping an eye on both of them as well. He had been subtly and indirectly inquiring about Kakashi's image of an effective dream, to give the silver-haired man a few hints about planning a reunion.

For someone who hated the idea of being a teacher – he would most likely be a horrible one – this idea kind of thrilled him.

The whole Forbidden-scroll cascade had passed Kakashi by, who had been in the hospital at the time. It hadn't taken him long to hear to news though. He had his ways to be up to date with the rumours in the hospital – including listening to the gossiping nurses. Pakkun had been not all too happy with being used as a scout while having had his 'well-deserved' rest, but hadn't complained too much after Kakashi had petted him at the right spot behind his ears.

No matter how smart they were, dogs would still be dogs.

Kakashi couldn't help but smile as Pakkun relayed that Naruto had beaten Mizuki, but was being awfully secretive about how he had done it. Apparently, it was payback for disrupting his rest without it being a life-threatening situation. Fine, he would find out on his own during the survival test. The dog was so stubborn sometimes.

Naruto finally passed, which relieved Kakashi. There were people at the Academy that wouldn't be ready to become ninja after more than three years. There were people who would be genin for their whole life. Some ninja wouldn't be able to go that far. It was part of reality that Kakashi was very aware of. One could not simply help someone to get through the Academy. It would prevent them from knowing whether a student was ready and responsible enough – and serious enough about his own training - to become a genin. Times where this measure was more flexible – war times - had shown how quickly someone died when they weren't ready.

Kakashi had seen more than his fair share and he wasn't willing to endanger Naruto's life just because he would like to see his sensei's son become a ninja.

Oddly, Kakashi did feel a sense of pride for the future-genin for taking a step closer to his self-proclaimed goal.

The next day, being the scheming man that the Sandaime was and Kakashi had respected, the Hokage had managed to bypass the council protests by using Naruto's rather disappointing scores –using their pleasure of calling him a mere 'dead last' against them.

Who knew that having scores so bad, could work in Naruto's advantage?

'Though why are his scores so low? Why did he fail so many times?' Kakashi couldn't help but wonder if the teachers' bias had hindered Naruto's growth. ' He had seemed rather determined when he made me that promise.'

Kakashi stubbornly ignored the voice in the back of his head that the young teenager might have forgotten about him.

Unsurprisingly, the council had not been very excited about the idea of letting the Uchiha Genius and the Demon brat- the council member had been lucky that he had not called him that out loud – end up in a team together. Even though the Hokage often had the final say in the arrangements of the team, he forced them to agree anyway.

It had been a very nicely timed comment, reminding them of their _traditional_ - which was a soft spot for the old tarts that filled most of the council – system has always put the Rookie and the ' dead last' together to even the balance, that had done the trick.

Well, for the majority anyway. The rest would probably be 'convinced' to under more private circumstances.

So they eventually agreed with the Hokage's choice – though Kakashi would have suspected that the man would have pulled his Hokage-Almighty-card for this personal case if it had been needed.

With a last official stamp and signature, the arrangements were made and the possible future Team Seven was formed.

Kakashi could only hope that they wouldn't be too disappointing when he tested them, like the all the previous teams had been.

It would be a shame to send them back after all.

**~ Few weeks later ~ **

Naruto held his breathe in suspense as he saw a hand move around to wooden door to open it, totally oblivious that he was falling right into his trap.

_Poof._

A small cloud of chalk surrounded the silver-haired Jounin as the duster fell down on his head.

He watched the masked man – why were there always masked people in his life? – move the erased from his head and glance at it, before his single eye studied them in a rather disinterested manner.

Naruto could barely hold his laughter in. "He fell for it! He fell for it!"

He broke out laughing after.

Sakura, in the mean time, started apologising to their new idiot-sensei. Naruto couldn't figure out why. It was the Jounin's own mistake to let a prank-master wait for so long. Secretly, Naruto was sure that she liked the joke. It was a harmless way of getting revenge after all. He could have easily used itchy powder.

Loads of itchy powder.

Still, he had decided not to risk going that far, seeing as it probably wouldn't make the best first impression.

"For real? Is he really a Jounin?" Sasuke muttered under his breath next to him, sounding less amused by the performance.

The Jounin hummed to himself, glancing at them one by one, before he tapped his chin.

"How should I say this…" He mused out loud, somehow catching all their attention in one go.

"I hate you."

Naruto's head dropped in disappointment. Well, that wasn't really a good first impression either.

'Might as well have gone for the itch powder anyway.'

Being distracted by his rather blunt approach, his cute little unofficial Genin-team completely missed the amusement that flashed across Kakashi's eye. The silly brats were already underestimating him, simply because he had let himself get hit. He felt a somewhat sadistic side of him chuckle in anticipation to take them off guard the next morning.

'There is clearly enough to change, but who knows, they might get a chance.' The council would probably skin him alive if he were to fail their precious Uchiha, but Kakashi was not afraid of the old tarts, just wary.

"Meet me on the roof. " He ordered.

With a quick hand sign, he 'poofed' away. Instead of ending up on the roof, like they probably thought he would, he appeared halfway on the stairways. It was enough to give him a head start without being seen, but it wasn't far enough to be out of hearing range. It was always interesting to try and pick up their first opinions. After all he wasn't a ninja for nothing.

"I want to learn that!" Kakashi heard Naruto yell.

"Shut up dobe!"

It was rather odd how easy it for him was to become accustomed to Naruto's loud presence once again.

'I wonder how long it will take for me to reach my limit though…'

**~Next day ~**

There was a moment of excitement as he finally saw the team pull together. It was clearly reluctant, but they would come around eventually. He knew more than enough about opposites being able to work together when it came to it. Still, there was nothing against checking their defences for a bit.

"So the three of you are one? That is your excuse?" He growled at them.

The three students obviously tensed by the Jounins demeanour but continued to protest against his orders nonetheless, sticking to their choices.

They were going to do this together.

The storm behind their masked sensei intensified for one moment, before suddenly Kakashi let go of the amusing genjutsu that he had secretly put on them. Their reactions surely had been worth the little amount of chakra that it used.

He huffed. "You pass."

"What?"

"You pass." He allowed his smile to slip past his act.

Naruto suddenly felt numb as he stared at his sensei. 'We… we passed?'

"Yatta!"

Kakashi put his hands in his pockets, suddenly realising that he suddenly had a team to watch out for. Not to mention that there would be a whole pile of paperwork to fill in, a dent in his usual income – though that wasn't much of a problem – and a lot of boring D-ranked missions ahead of him.

He sighed.

He wasn't really made to be a sensei.

**~End Chaper 2~**

If you want more, please review to motivate me. It would be highly appreciated!

Next: Training, wave and the like.

For those who are bored/interested:

Question 1: What did Kakashi do to train them in during the first few months? I never got a clear picture and I don't like to believe that he didn't teach them anything at all.

Question 2: Who caught the somewhat-reference to a tv-serie in this chapter?

Till next time!


	3. Chapter 3

**Title:** Above the Underneath

**Summary**: "Careful Kakashi-sensei. Look too closely at underneath the underneath and you may fail to see what is right in front of you." Kakashi regarded the blond pensively for a moment, before he eye-smiled. "You have grown a lot from the hyperactive five-year-old that I babysat."

Yaoi?: Nope!

**Beta: **None

Thanks you very much my dear reviewers and readers! I'm glad you enjoyed it so far and don't worry there will be more chapters as long as enough people stimulate me to write more. So here is the next part and I would really love to hear from you guys again!

On an extra note, I may add extra parts to several chapters later on, but you will be warned if this is the case in the next update. Also any suggestions, any situation or more depth to certain situations between are welcome as well. :)

_Enjoy!_

**~Next day~**

Kakashi was a master when it came to multitasking. Of course, it was a known skill and many ninja's were good at it, but Kakashi brought it to another level. Walking around, casually reading his book, and keeping an eye on his surroundings at the same time – avoiding citizens, lampposts, running ninja's and walls alike – was only a small part of his potential.

However, as was the case with nearly any skill, this ability also had a downside, seeing as he was distracted rather easily by his surroundings. He never could focus completely on his book and immerse himself into the story that he was reading. Like, just to give an example, during an extremely boring D-ranked mission that he got for his cute little genins. He wouldn't mind just to enjoy his book for a while, preferably in quiet circumstances. Unfortunately for the Jounin, his team tended to be a little too…

Dynamic.

" How can they call this a mission?" Naruto complained loudly as he pulled out another plant.

No dynamic wasn't a very good word to describe them, another part of Kakashi's brain decided as he continued reading while keeping track of the argum- conversation.

" Naruto-baka! That is not a weed!" Sakura scolded him from the other side of the garden. "That's the fifth time you pulled out a herb!"

_The woman met his eyes and he swallowed. Jin was taken back by the sky blue eyes, which seemed to look right thought him. She was beautiful and dangerous, his instincts told him. The woman smirked, as if having read his mind, before she started walking towards him. No it wasn't walking, it was like she was prowling-_

" Whatever! It looks like a weed to me. Look it doesn't even have a flower!" Naruto defended himself.

Vibrant maybe? No, that didn't fit either. Annoying… well… it had potential but it sounded so negative that he pushed it away with a sigh.

"Ishikawa-san showed which plants you should pull out Naruto! Can't you pay attention like Sasuke-kun?" Sakura huffed, putting her hands on her hips.

Kakashi smirked when he noticed Sasuke tense slightly in the corner of his eyes. The young Uchiha looked into his own basket before he sneakily glanced towards the arguing pair and crouched down to add another weed to the basket.

"The teme pulled out the same plant!" The blond protested, actually surprising Kakashi with the fact that he had noticed.

"Don't call him that! And of course he didn't! Right Sasuke-kun?" Sakura defended her crush as she always seemed to do.

Of course, Sasuke would very much feel like sharing his opinion, Kakashi thought as he flipped another page.

"Hn…"

_- his breath hitched as he neared him, the smirk still there. It was teasing him. He was her pray and he loved every moment of i-_

"Sasuke-teme! I saw you putting it in your basket!" Naruto yelled, pointing an accusing finger towards his teammate's basket.

"Dobe."

"Maa… maa… if you worked as much as you all argued you would be done now." He spoke up, effectively gaining their attention without even having to look up from his book.

The three genin glared at him.

"You could help, you know." Naruto grumbled and though the others didn't voice it, by their expressions, they obviously agreed.

The Jounin ever so slowly flipped another page and mentally smirked as he noted that it riled his cute students even more.

Maybe, being a sensei would be more amusing than he had expected.

Being sensei was not a job to laugh at. Purely holding responsibility for the genin's wellbeing during and outside missions was a whole task on its own. Besides this, there was also the whole 'what-are-they-allowed-to-learn' issue that many teachers struggled with. Against many beliefs, Jounin's were not allowed to give their genin's advanced jutsu until they got the basics down. In order to refrain spies and traitors from becoming too strong, one had to be worthy of being taught. So the jounin's were not allowed to simply dump a whole list of jutsu on their students.

Too bad. That would have been so much easier, he joked mentally.

He flipped another page and mentally grinned as he felt a tingle of killing intent rising from his silly students.

"It's your mission. I'm just here to keep an eye on you. Now Sasuke, put the plant back in your basket. If you pulled it out already then there is no need to put it back." He chided, being the teacher that he was.

"I told you so!" Naruto exclaimed, turning towards Sakura.

"He must have pulled it out by accident!"

"Dobe."

"Teme!"

Loud? They were certainly loud, but they were more than that.

Kakashi sighed. He would come up with a word later. First, he could only hope that his team would manage to find a way to work together. It might take a few more – or many more - D-ranked missions, but he was going to observe them and hope for the best that they would develop a form of teamwork that would be strong enough to survive the many years ahead.

"Don't call Sasuke-kun a teme Naruto!"

"But Sakura-chaaan."

Yup, he decided. If all went well, he would still be sane by the end of the week.

**~ A few weeks later ~**

After having done a large amount of D-ranked missions, Kakashi decided that the team finally could do some training. They finally settled into a very… well odd team-dynamic but somehow they kept each other in check, so Kakashi decided to take his changes.

If he had waited any longer they would become restless and stir-crazy, Naruto especially.

Unsurprisingly, the team was very excited to 'finally' have some training.

"Training! Training! Training!" Naruto chanted as he bounced into their usual training field, his team not that far behind him.

"Shut up Naruto!" Sakura yelled, having had enough of hearing him say the words over and over for the last ten minutes.

Sasuke simply glared at the boy and crossed his arm, before he sent his sensei a pointed look, willing him to do something about it.

Kakashi pointedly ignored said look and flipped another page of the book.

"Ne sensei! What are you going to teach us?"

"Self-reflexion."

There was long silence.

"WHAT? WHY NOT A JUSTU?" Naruto exclaimed, upset.

"Maa…Self-reflexion is more important than a jutsu."

"WHY?" Naruto protested loudly, but spoke softer as Kakashi sternly gestured him to calm down. "That sounds so boring." The boy grumbled.

Kakashi lowered his book and shot the boy a glance that made the blond genin shut up. "

It's _important_." He repeated, stressing the word.

"Why?" Naruto sighed, obviously disappointed that they weren't going to learn a super-cool flashy ninjutsu.

Sasuke and Sakura didn't look very thrilled either.

"Because it allows you to train yourself." Kakashi explained, putting away his book to show that he was being serious.

The three genin glanced at each other, taken back by the sudden change of attitude.

"Isn't that your job, sensei?" The jounin was amused by the silent accusation even though, somehow, Sakura still managed to sound polite.

"It is my job to teach you certain skills yes." Kakashi admitted. "But I'm not going to train you if you are not prepared to work for it, nor would I teach you if you are not completely motivated."

"So we need to train ourselves in order to see where our interest lays?" Sakura asked.

"Indeed." Kakashi nodded. "I am willing to help you, but not until all the basics are taken care off."

"But aren't those taught at the Academy?" Sasuke objected, looking aggravated by this new development. Kakashi frowned at the boy.

"How do you expect to run if you can't properly walk yet?" Kakashi questioned.

Naruto abruptly raised his head at that comment and stared at him with a thoughtful look. Kakashi couldn't help but wonder if he had said something that reminded the boy of Inu.

"Well, maybe the Dope could use some help but I'm sure I am ready to run." Sasuke grumbled softly, underestimating the senses of both his teammate and his teacher.

If Naruto had had any suspicion about Kakashi, it had disappeared completely as he twirled to his teammate. "What did you say Bastard?"

"Are you deaf as well Dobe." The Uchiha asked, hiding his surprise of having been heard.

"Why yo-"

"Stop." Kakashi called out.

"What did you say Sasuke-kun?"

"- who the hell do you think you are!"

"Someone stronger than yo-"

They hadn't listened to him. He would have to teach them that they really should.

"_Stop." _Kakashi repeated.

The three genin froze as a heavy atmosphere fell upon them before it disappeared a second later. Still, it had caught their attention easily and they stared at him for a while with big eyes before Sakura spoke up.

"What was that?"

"Killing intent." Sasuke whispered.

"Indeed." Kakashi drawled, not surprised that Sasuke had recognised it.

"Resistance to killing intent is one of the skills that I will teach you. It will take practice but I'm sure that you will be able to handle a Chuunin's Killer intent in a few months time. In the next few months, we will also focus on chakra manipulation within the body, tactics, anatomy -" Naruto's excited expression dropped. "- reflexes, and I will teach you how to make your body movements more effective."

"Won't we learn how to fight?"

The Jounin ignored the question. "Most important, we will work on teamwork as well. You will need it in future missions."

This time, it was Sasuke who scowled.

"We will spar every other day. I was planning on doing so tomorrow, but seeing as Sasuke here things that he has the perfect basics down already, why don't you show me?" Sasuke tensed, realising his error. "Naruto and Sakura, you two will warm up and I will watch your spar once I'm done here."

"Hai." The two students answered, though they both seemed disappointed that they couldn't watch. Naruto was disappointed because he wouldn't be able to see Sasuke get his ass kicked and Sakura because she wanted to see Sasuke surprise Kakashi.

Sasuke flinches ever so slightly at Kakashi's chiding, but kept his head high. Kakashi was slightly annoyed by the boy's confidence. He had to admit that the boy was far ahead of Naruto and Sakura, but there was still a lot of work to be done. His attitude for one…

"Out of ten mistakes that can kill you, six depend on a lack of basic reactions and reflexes."

"The most common mistake is the overestimation of someone's own skill or the underestimation of one's opponents though." Kakashi told the Uchiha in front of him.

"Now, let's see if I can spot a mistake ne?"

After having been thrown on the ground nearly twenty times, Sasuke had to admit that Kakashi was much stricter on the basics than any of the Academy students had been. His eyes glanced towards his sensei, suddenly not sure what to think of the man. He was so odd.

Well as long as he could help him become stronger, it would be interesting.

Unknown to the boy, Kakashi mentally smiled.

Unknown to Kakashi, a pair of blue eyes watched them carefully, feeling strangely jealous.

**~About a week later~ **

Naruto let out a disappointed sigh, as he stood in front of the dark stone, his eyes slowly taking in all the names that were engraved in it.

There were even more than he had thought.

'Will Inu's be between them somewhere?' Naruto wondered. 'I will never know.'

The thought alone made him feel like crying. He wouldn't cry though. He wouldn't cry in front of Inu.

'Kakashi said these people were heroes who died in action.' He told himself. 'He has to be somewhere in between those names.'

Crouching down in front of the stone, he did a quick prayer – he didn't know whether he was doing it right, but he tried to nonetheless – and spend the next ten minutes looking at every name on the stone.

"Naruto?"

Naruto's head snapped up as he heard his sensei's voice. "Kakshi-sensei!" He greeted, sounding somewhat unsure on how to act.

He didn't feel hyper like he normally was. The jounin seemed to notice this and smiled at him, but didn't comment on it.

"I thought you would be training those jumps of yours."

Naruto flushed. "I did! I just took a break and well…" He glanced towards the stone. "I was wondering if there was someone there that I knew."

Kakashi-sensei gave him an odd look for a moment, one tha Naruto couldn't quite decipher and it made him uncomfortable.

"Well, I mean…" Naruto drawled off, unable to explain. Anbu stuff was secret after all and he wasn't sure how much his sensei knew about them.

"You don't know this person's name?" Kakashi informed, avoiding the use of 'his'.

"No."

"Why are you looking for this person?"

"He's gone."

"He's a hero?"

"Yeah…"

Kakashi was pretty sure that the kid was talking about Inu now. He felt quilty and somewhat touched at the same time. Swallowing, he put his hand on the spiky blond hair of his student and ruffled it affectionately, ignoring the sharp look that Naruto shot him. Instead, his eyes were drawn to the location of a three names, he knew were engraved in there.

'Oh Obito, Rin, Sensei… they remind me so much of us.' He thought sadly.

'It will work out better this time around.' He silently told them.

He suddenly thought back to the dark look that had been present in Sasuke's eyes and he frowned mentally.

At least… he hoped it would.

"Sensei?"

"Hai?"

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine. You know… even though you don't know your hero's name… he must be here somewhere." He said.

Naruto nodded, though unaware of how close Inu actually was. "Thanks sensei."

"So how about that training of yours?"

Naruto shot his sensei a grin, suddenly feeling excited to prove himself again.

"I have improved loads! Sensei! Just look at this!" He yelled before speeding away just to show how much he had improved.

Kakashi stared after him, glanced back to the stone, made a last prayer, before he set after his student.

"Maa Naruto, try to jump upwards instead of forwards. Use you momentum into the right direction." He paused. "Better. Now try again."

**~ A few months later ~**

"Run!" Kakashi yelled towards his student and his stomach twisted as he saw that they remained standing where they were.

"I'm giving you an order! Run!" He ordered this time, feeling panic creeping up to him.

To be truthful he hadn't been afraid in a mission for a long time. In ANBU he had gone through a time where it didn't really matter to him whether he lived through the mission or not. Looking back to that time, it made him shudder. Only Naruto's presence had made that different. It had given him a reason to return, to make the boy happy to see him again.

Now that he had a team to look after, he suddenly felt afraid again. So very afraid to fail them… like he had failed all those others.

He struggled against the bonds that held him, nearly felt them breaking, but it wasn't enough.

He felt helpless in a way he hadn't felt in a very – very – long time.

Vunerable… and he hated it. He despised this.

He should have seen this coming damn it! How could he have been so blind! He should have made one more clones in the beginning. He should have seen man's plan coming!

"Run!" He pleaded once again and growled as he heard the Jounin next to him laugh sadistically.

"No!" Naruto refused, causing Kakashi to startle. He continued to curse himself when he heard his own words being used against them.

'Oh Kami please, don't let them die.'

Those kids didn't deserve this…

His breathing sped up before he watched with amazement that his students finally worked together.

They had been very lucky, but their work had been impressive.

The moment that he was free, his chakra and Killing Intent surged and he saw Zabuza raise his guard as he met his glare.

Kakashi was _not_ happy.

He wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

**~ About a week later ~**

Naruto waved to the villagers standing on the bridge, seeing Inari wave back with as much enthusiasm as possible. A sense of happiness settled on him as he turned around and focused on the team in front of him. Kakashi-sensei had buried his nose in that perverted book of him once again. Sasuke was brooding, like his usual self. Sakura was trying to talk to Sasuke, but after she realised that he wasn't up for it, she settled down as well.

For once, Naruto decided to remain quiet for a while. The urge of being loud had settled for a little bit. He felt content, prideful and glad that everything had turned out to be alright.

His content smile turned into a grin as he mentally nodded to himself.

Team 7 was awesome. They would become the best!

"Naruto." The blond nearly jumped at Kakashi's calm voice.

The man was sneaky! Naruto couldn't help but wonder how it was so easy to underestimate him like that. He clearly remembered how strong his sensei had been during the fight with Zabuza, even though he needed help. That didn't make Naruto respect him any less though. Everyone needed help once in a while. They were a team for a reason.

"Hai sensei?" He replied, noting that Sakura and Sasuke were both deep in thought.

He twitched in surprise as a hand descended on his head and ruffled his hair. Eyes wide, he stared up to the sensei that he had a still growing respect for.

"Good job Naruto."

The masked Jounin was smiling at him – judging by the curve of his eye – and Naruto could practically feel his body buzz at the warm feeling that he got from being making someone proud of him.

A grin threatened to split his as he beamed at his sensei, unable to find the right words, though they weren't necessary. With a last pat, the ninja removed his hand started reading again, pulling apart his other student for a little chat as well.

'He talked to me first.' Naruto realised.

He wasn't sure if it really meant something or that it was purely coincidental, but Naruto couldn't help funny about it.

'Yatta!'

For some reason, Uzumaki Naruto seemed to be practically oozing happy energy all the way home, much to the occasional annoyance of his teammates.

In the background, Kakashi couldn't help but shake his head in a rather amused manner.

'Minato-sensei… is this how it feels to be a sensei?'

He could only imagine his sensei giving him a knowing look before ruffling his hair which Jounin smile.

' I will do my best, Sensei.'

**~ End Chapter ~**

**Motivate this writer's brain and please donate some reviews.**

**Thank you very much.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Title**: Above the Underneath

**Summary**: "Careful Kakashi-sensei. Look too closely at underneath the underneath and you may fail to see what is right in front of you." Kakashi regarded the blond pensively for a moment, before he eye-smiled. "You have grown a lot from the hyperactive five-year-old that I babysat." No Yaoi.

Yaoi?: Nope!

**Beta**: None

Once again thank you very much for the feedback. It's very much appreciated. To repeat: this is not really and AU… These are mostly my thoughts about the remaining Team 7's relationship (especially focusing on Kakashi and Naruto) 'behind the screens' moments so to speak. Of course, there is always the possibility that I go away from the plot and have some more fun with the 'what if's' but for now… I will remain with the original plotline.

If there are any behind the scene moments that would be perfect to write about, please let me know. I might be able to work with it.

**Note: This chapter was updated after having posted the 'now-chapter-5!'**

Please enjoy!

**~Two weeks after the Mission to Wave~**

"Stop."

The two boys froze on the spot at the simple command, knowing better than to test Kakashi-sensei's limits during training.

The Jounin was leaning against one of the three poles on the training field, watching his two students spar as Sakura was resting next to him, having just finished sparring with her sensei. She had been hit a couple of times, it would make sure she that she wouldn't leave herself open like that again. The girl hadn't complained this time – like she had been doing in the beginning – and he found that refreshing.

Maybe Sakura was finally getting more serious about it. Though the mission to Wave had done wonders the attitude of his team towards training.

Well… maybe 'wonders' was too exaggerated.

"What are you two doing?" He asked, waiting for them to figure it out themselves.

The two boys remained frozen as they were and studied each other and their own position. Naruto's arm was reached back to give himself more power to punch Sasuke, while Sasuke was nearly finishing a block and had his weight on his left leg so that he could kick out with his right.

"I'm blocking Naruto's punch and planning to hit him with roundhouse kick."

"Naruto?"

"I was going to punch him in the jaw."

Sasuke snorted and Naruto glared at him. Kakashi mentally smirked, but sighed instead.

"Underestimation is not good Sasuke."

"I'm just confident in my ability to block him." The Uchiha protested, resulting a soft 'Teme' from the boy opposite of him.

"If Naruto will continue with his own plan, are you going to stick with your plan Sasuke?" Kakashi asked.

"Yes." Sasuke said with an air of confidence.

Naruto grinned at his teammate.

Kakashi sighed. "Sakura?"

The girl stared at the two frozen forms of the two boys in front of her that were looking at her questioningly.

"Well Sasuke-kun will proba-" She trailed off when she saw her sensei give her a pointed look. They had had a talk about how dangerous being 'subjective' could during battle yesterday, which the girl still felt somewhat embarrassed about.

The worst part was that Kakashi-sensei had been somewhat right. Somewhat.

'Still, he kept his promise and didn't tell anyone what we talked about.' She thought to herself and forced herself to become serious.

Closing her mouth and studying her two teammates again – objective this time – her eyes widened. "Sasuke-kun will be forced to dodge to the right and if Naruto react fast enough he will be able to swipe Sasuke off his feet after failing to hit his jaw." She told Kakashi.

"Ha! Take that teme!"

Sasuke's eyes narrowed. "Dobe."

"Maa maa… You can continue." Kakashi told them.

Few secons later, Sasuke indeed lost his balance. Had he not seen this coming, he probably wouldn't have been able to twist himself to land on his feet properly. He was about to charge forward, but Kakashi ordered them to stop for a moment.

The Uchiha sneered in frustration as Kakashi nodded towards Naruto. "Good job, but make sure to be less obvious about changing tactics. I could see the shift seconds before you actually took action. Still, good job." He added, earning a bright smile in return.

He turned to Sasuke. "Let's try that one more time. Now be careful to watch where Naruto puts the weights on his feet. Also, don't let your emotions get in your way."

The sneer became more pronounced.

"Remember guys… self-reflection. Accepting criticism is an important factor." Kakashi pointedly stated, forcing Sasuke to mask his annoyance.

"Hai Sensei." They chorused.

"Alright… once more."

This time Sasuke won, as usual. Mainly because of the warning that Kakashi had given him. Kakashi was sure to give Naruto some pointers next time. He was pleased to note that Sasuke had taken Naruto a lot more serious than before though.

They are growing, he thought with a smile.

Of course, just as the thought passed in his head, the pleased smirk on his face riled Naruto up like usual and Sakura easily slipped back into her self-proclaimed role of defending 'her Sasuke-kun'.

Kakashi sighed.

**~A couple of weeks later ~**

"Yo."

The greeting was met with a cry of a young teenager. "What the-"

A second later there was a thud, before something crashed on the ground, before something breakable broke and some sort of liquid was spilled over the floor. There was a moment of silence – the silence before the storm – before eventually followed by another cry.

The blond teenager cradled to the mess that was left behind, his hands grasping the precious goods that were now lost.

"Noooo!" Another dramatic outcry. "My precious Ramen!"

The young Genin practically cried tears for the cheap unhealthy noodles that were spread over the ground. For a moment, he was completely ignorant of the arrival of his sensei only seconds ago. Until he remembered just who had started this whole mess.

Pointing his finger at the silver-haired and masked individual, who was somehow able to stay crouched on his windowsill while keeping his lazy posture intact, Naruto wasn't hesitant to let his disappointment show.

"Kakashi-sensei!" The reply was a little too loud for the Jounin's taste. "Look what you did! Don't scare me like that!"

"Ma… ma… so loud Naruto." The jounin chided, while remaining to keep one arm behind his back, hiding something.

Naruto wasn't paying him much attention anymore though.

"My Ramen!"

The Jounin-sensei sighed as he hopped from the windowsill into the apartment, but kept the object still hidden as he did so.

"I would have expected you to at least sense my presence Naruto. We have been practicing this for two days already. Besides, I wasn't hiding it from you at all. I would have thought that after having accomplished an A-rank mission that you should at least be a bit more paranoid. After all, as a genin, you should be more aware of your surrou-" He trailed off as he noticed that his student wasn't really paying attention to him anymore.

Naruto sniffled rather dramatically as he carefully picked up all the broken pieces of the cup that had broken. Still, behind that dramatic outburst there was a sense of actual sadness, which alerted his teacher-senses immediately.

Why? Even Naruto wouldn't be _that_ sad over spilled ramen, knowing that he had another cupboard full of them.

Kakashi's eye narrowed momentarily as it landed on the pieces of the broken cup, but he snapped out of his thoughtful state as soon as Naruto gave any indication of looking at him. When he didn't, Kakashi decided to speak up on his own after having put the object that he carried around on the counter behind the boy.

"I apologise for catching you off guard." He told his student somewhat lamely. "I had not expected you to react that violently."

Naruto didn't give any indication of noticing the suspicion that was present in his voice.

"It's alright sensei. I just usually don't get a lot of visitors. You are right… I wasn't alert enough." He said with a grin, carefully assembling all the pieces, but not throwing it away as the Jounin would have suspected. "You startled me. I was just lost in thought."

"Hmm…" The masked man hummed, as he saw the boy carefully put all the pieces into another bowl on the counter, before he noticed the basket that the Jounin had brought along.

"Hey hey!" The hyperactive energy once again returned.

Bounding on the balls of his feet he sneaked closer to the basket to see what it held. "Is that for me? What is i- _Veggies?" _The disappointment was clear in his voice.

Kakashi's eye closed and curved into a familiar smile. "You need to eat more vegetables Naruto. It's important to have a diverse diet."

"But I there are many types of Ramen. Miso Ra-"

"Different types of food Naruto." Kakashi corrected, wondering of the genin had been serious or not.

Naruto didn't seem convinced about his explanation and poked at the different 'green stuff' that filled the basket. "I don't like veggies."

Kakashi chuckled softly and ruffled the Genin's hair, causing him to freeze for a moment. The Jounin's eye narrowed for a moment before he pulled back. He had made sure to use another way of ruffling his hair than he had done as Inu. Had Naruto noticed a similarity though?

The blond looked up at him questioningly, patting his hair, before he scowled when he glanced back at the veggies.

"I don't like veggies." He repeated, though he wasn't telling him to take them back.

"Do you want to stay a midget forever?"

"No!"

"Well then you need some more variety in your eating pattern."

Naruto visibly shuddered, before he quickly turned towards his sensei with narrowed eyes, pointing his finger towards the man.

"Wait, did you just call me a midget?!" He protested, suddenly realising what the Jounin had implied.

"Are you going to argue about that?"

"I'm not short!"

"You are to me." The somewhat teasing pat on his head made Naruto's twitch in annoyance as he half-heartedly slapped that hand away.

"I just haven't had my growth spurt yet!" Naruto grumbled, unable to deny that fact.

"Well, maybe all that Ramen of yours is why it hasn't started yet."

Naruto sent him a glare as he crossed his arm and silently fumed. A soft "Baka-sensei" escaped his lips.

Kakashi pointedly ignored it – feeling very amused by the boy's behaviour - and picked up the basket that he had brought along. Still, he made sure to give the genin a warning flick on his head to let him know that he had heard that.

"Do you know how to make a meal out of this?" He asked, though he was already pretty sure that the young man didn't.

As expected, the Genin shook his head with a pout.

Kakashi tapped his chin with his book and sighed. "I will show you then." He said before he shot his cute little student a pointed look. "Just don't get used to it." He warned him as he started to gather some basic items that they would need.

"You can cook?" The genin asked with wide eyes, which widened even more when his sensei put away his favourite book.

"I know the basics." The Jounin told him. Having been living on his own for all this time since… He didn't have much of a choice to not learn how to cook after that.

Naruto laughed at him.

"Maa Naruto, it's important to know how to cook a proper meal. How will you ever be a good Hokage if you don't eat food that allows you to grow? You can't always buy take-out and instant food."

"Sensei!" The blond whined.

As Kakashi turned around to check the drawers and cupboards, he was more than aware of the silence that surrounded them.

"Ne Kakashi-sensei." Naruto asked, suddenly sounding a bit solemn.

"Hmm?" Kakashi hummed, showing him that he was listening, but not turning around.

"Looking underneath the underneath…-"

Kakashi purposely continued with his casual movements as he studied the kitchen. Had Naruto actually figured it out? He silently cursed himself for having grown too close to the boy. Not that it would chance much, but to be caught like that would hurt his pride… not to mention that it would end up with a lot of questions, which would be difficult to answer.

" –Where does that phrase come from?"

Kakashi turned around and leaned against the counter. "A good friend taught me the phrase." He told the young man, sticking to the truth.

He mentally winched when he saw the eyes become somewhat hopeful.

"Really? Like many years ago?"

"A long time ago." Kakashi agreed, staring out of the window as memories of that horrible mission automatically seemed to surface in his thoughts. "In some circumstances, he was surprisingly wise."

_Was._

Naruto shoulders sagged forward, but he nodded slowly. "Well, he must have been a very cool ninja." Naruto said, sending him a bright smile.

For a moment, Naruto couldn't quite understand why Kakashi-sensei was staring him with such an odd look. It was a mixture of surprise, wonder and something else that Naruto could put his finger on. The blond was puzzled by the reaction though. Kakashi must have been friends with Inu right? That or they must have had a mutual friend.

In a way, it made Naruto feel better that Kakashi was his sensei.

"Yes he was." Kakashi-sensei echoed. "He was a good ninja." He agreed, an amused but sad look in his eyes as he once again stared out of the window.

They stood there for a moment in a comfortable silence – though the atmosphere was somewhat bleak – before Naruto decided to distract his sensei. He didn't like to see the man with such a sad look in his eyes. He didn't like seeing any one being sad. So with the brightest smile that he could manage, he turned towards the drawer and took out a big and sharp knife.

"So sensei, which horrible veggie can I kill- err I mean chop into pieces?"

**~ The next day ~**

Naruto rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he entered his small kitchen, determined to eat something else than those veggie that Kakashi had forced him to eat yesterday.

'Well they weren't that bad.' Naruto had to admit. 'But they weren't good either.'

Nowhere near the range of the heavenly taste of Ramen, that was for sure.

Yawning one last time, he went to retrieve a cup. He sighed sadly as he remembered having dropped his favourite one. It was one of the oldest cup that he possessed and one of his most treasured ones. It had been a gift from Inu on his birthday. Feeling down, he moved to open up de cupboard that contained other cups. He never got that far thought, as his eye caught something standing on the middle of the counter.

The cup.

It was exactly the same cup that had been broken yesterday.

Fully intact.

Skipping a step, Naruto nearly hit the corner of the table. He didn't care though as he carefully picked up the cup that had been broken yesterday. Carefully inspecting the outside for any cracks, he couldn't find anything amiss. It was exactly identical to the cup that Inu had once given him a long time ago.

As he went to inspect the inside, he saw a small folded paper placed in the item.

Far too curious for his own good, he quickly folded it open and read the two sentences that were written within.

"Try to be more aware next time. Some things can't be repaired after they break."

There was no name written down, but Naruto was sure that it was Kakashi-sensei that had written it.

Glancing from the paper to his favourite cup in front of him, Naruto couldn't help but smile brightly. He had thought that the cup had been lost. He had no clue how Kakashi-sensei had done it and couldn't help but wonder. Still, he would be more careful from now on. So, as he cautiously picked up the cup , his eye flickered to the closed window of the kitchen, before he put it back into the cupboard and closed it.

Safe.

The next day, much to Naruto's disappointment, no matter how much he pestered the man, Baka-sensei wouldn't tell him how he had fixed it.

"Is it like a super-glue no jutsu?" He asked, ignoring the questioning glances that his teammates shot him.

The Jounin actually seemed surprised by the suggestion, before he chuckled. It was the perfect 'I-know-something-that-you-don't-and-you-amuse-me-by-trying-to-figure-it-out'-chuckle, which caused Naruto to pout in annoyance.

"That's a secret." Kakashi-sensei told him instead.

"You can tell me! Please?"

"Then it wouldn't be a secret anymore, would it?"

Naruto crossed his arms in a rather rebellious way and frowned.

Kakashi watched it all with a very amused glint in his eyes.

'Maybe I enjoy this a little too much.' He pondered. 'Ah well.' He mentally shrugged, adding it to the short list of advantages of being a Jounin sensei.

Pulling out his favourite book, he moved around his student. But not without gently slapping him the blond's head with his book though.

"Now don't start brooding, that is Sasuke's job."

That seemed to do the trick.

"Am not!"

"Sensei." Sasuke objected dryly from the other side of the trainings field, having finished sparring with Sakura.

"Kakashi-sensei, Sasuke doesn't brood." Sakura protested.

Kakashi just curved his eye into his familiar eye-laugh.

Maybe being a sensei wasn't that bad after all.

**~ Couple of weeks later ~**

The ex-ANBU captain leaned against the windowsill as he waited for the Hokage to finish his last paperwork and to come to business. Being pretty good at reading the older open man's body language, Kakashi knew very well when he was allowed to slouch like a lazy persona and when he needed to channel his ninja-persona – standing alert and all that.

There had been no such indication to stand alert in the man's body language, just a slight frown that indicated annoyance instead of problems.

Kakashi let his eye wander over the faces that were clearly visible from the large windows. They almost automatically came to rest on the figure of the man that he had respected for the many years that he had taught him. He would never forget Minato-sensei, being the great generous ninja that he had been.

It was such a waste for him to die.

It was such a waste for Naruto to grow up without them.

"So you are thinking about letting them enter the Chuunin Exams?" Hokage-sama asked Kakashi, who snapped to attention almost immediately.

"Yes. It will be a good experience for them."

"Do you think they will make the finals?" The old man questioned him, putting his pipe to his lips as he looked at the man questioningly.

"I think that Sasuke might make the final rounds, but his sense of teamwork is not good enough to make Chuunin yet. I'm sure that the supervisors will have to consider that." Kakashi added, knowing that every sensei would be questioned about their opinions of the students as well.

"Sakura's chances of succeeding are too low in the one-on-one fights." He thought out loud. "Sasuke does have the biggest chance of coming that far, but Naruto is known to surprise me and actually I think that he somehow will manage to get so far."

"You put a lot of trust in that boy."

"Ever since he had shown that sneaky ability to catch someone off guard and to prove him wrong…" Kakashi agreed. "Not to mention that he barely reached my hip at the time." He added, referring to his time as ANBU. That boy had caught him off guard and tickled him. That didn't change the fact that it could have been a kunai though. The Hokage who was aware of the story nodded with a knowing smiile.

The smile faded as he let out a deep sigh.

"The council practically insists that you train Sasuke-kun during the month in between the final round of the Chuunin exams."

The statement snapped Kakashi out of his thought, but he didn't feel surprised. It was a move that was very typical of the old tarts that wanted the best for the last of the Uchiha clan. Actually, he agreed that it was the best that he taught the Uchiha, seeing as he had the Sharingan himself.

Besides, Kakashi also felt responsible of the brooding young teenager. He had seen the wheels turning in the boy's head and he couldn't help be worried that he would be too late to make the Uchiha realise that revenge was not the path to take. He would have to keep an careful eye on the boy and this month would be the perfect opportunity.

Still, he couldn't help but feel annoyed by being practically ordered to do training one on one though.

"What about Naruto and Sakura?" He asked, just to confirm this fact.

"No." The annoyance in the Hokage's voice alone was enough for Kakashi to know that they had someone been able to out-manoeuvre the old man.

"I see." Kakashi muttered.

What could he do to help Naruto now though?

Naruto may not give such an immediate bright impression, but he actually was a bright student once you knew how to motivate him. Of course, he had his faults as well, by being distracted very easy, bored very easily and often not truly comprehending things such as subtlety. It had also taken a lot of training to get rid of the most basic mistakes in his taijutsu and chakra control – what basics had he been taught at the academy? - over the time that he had been his student, but once the boy got something, he was like a sponge.

After subtly correcting his imperfections – the small mistakes that could kill a ninja – Kakashi had finally decided that Naruto was finally ready to develop something more. He could come far if he got the right help. Simply by correcting those small flaws had made the teen a lot stronger. Not in the obvious way, but more in a subtle way.

Kakashi believed that if he wanted to, Naruto could beat the Hyuuga, especially with the Kage Bushin to back him up.

"I think I might know someone for Sakura... but what about Naruto should he pass?" He asked, knowing that there were not many ninja willing to teach his little Genin.

The Hokage, who had been eying him somewhat curiously, send him an approving look.

"He could be trained by Ebisu."

Kakashi's eye turned thoughtfully for a moment. "Those two don't get along very well."

"He could learn a lot from him chakra-wise."

The masked Jounin had to agree with that. The closet-pervert was specialised in teaching skills like chakra-control. He actually was one of the most skilled trainers in Konoha. Kakashi was sure that Ebisu could even teach him something if he asked. Still…

"He is not the right teacher to get Naruto motivated properly."

The Hokage sighed. "There are not many people available, I'm afraid."

'_Or willing…'_ Was left unsaid.

'Well…' Kakashi suddenly remembered. 'Maybe _he _would be able to teach him something… It probably wouldn't be that difficult to convince him. He usually doesn't want anyone to disrupt his research…but for his godson he will surely make an exception.'

Not that the man wouldn't try to get a favour out of him in return.

Though when it concerned his students training… he might be willing to make such an offer.

Kakashi sighed mentally and glanced at the Hokage Monument once again. "Ma Hokage-sama. I might have heard somewhere that a certain godfather might come back soon?"

The Hokage shot him a narrowed glance, which Kakashi steadily met. It wasn't a suspicious glance. The older man knew that Kakashi would never betray him or Will of Fire. He was right, as Kakashi wouldn't. The fact that he had gotten the information though, showed him that he still kept in touch with his information network – like any rational war-hardened ninja would.

Seeing as the Jounin was sometimes a source of other more worry-some information as well, the Hokage was not that surprised by his knowledge.

So, instead of even trying to deny it, the Hokage sighed. "Yes, he will look at Naruto's seal at some point."

"So rhetorically speaking…" Kakashi started, his mask hiding his amused smirk that was slowly slipping onto his face. "it _might_ be possible that Ebisu would want to work on Naruto's chakra control."

It was the most logical next step after all.

"Which would probably be Water walking, which requires water. This might possibly be near the _bath house…" _He didn't even have to mention that by 'bath house', he meant _female side _of the bath house. "which is coincidently also the good research spot for a certain author that we both know."

The Hokage gave him a pointed look, an imaginative sweat drop gliding down the side of his head.

Kakashi simply curved his eye into a smile. "You know what Hokage-same, Ebisu-san would probably be a great idea."

"Really?"

"I will look for him personally and give him some pointers _where_ to work on."

With a tiny nod of the Hokage that allowed him to leave, he disappeared in a puff of smoke, leaving behind a somewhat bemused Hokage. The man sighed and pulled took another drag from his pipe, before glancing at a certain portrait hanging on the wall.

"Well, Minato. It is good to see him motivated again."

Kakashi may be a better teacher than he realised.

**~End Chapter~**

I hope you enjoyed!

A donation (comment/feedback) to Writer's Brain would be very much appreciated.


	5. Chapter 5

**Title:** Above the Underneath

**Summary**: "Careful Kakashi-sensei. Look too closely at underneath the underneath and you may fail to see what is right in front of you." Kakashi regarded the blond pensively for a moment, before he eye-smiled. "You have grown a lot from the hyperactive five-year-old that I babysat." No Yaoi.

**Yaoi?: Nope!**

**Beta: **None

Thanks you very much for the faves and the feedback. It's very much appreciated. Once again, this is not really and AU… These are mostly my thoughts about the remaining Team 7's relationship (especially focusing on Kakashi and Naruto) 'behind the screens' moments so to speak. Of course, there is always the possibility that I go away from the plot and have some more fun with the 'what if's' but for now… I will remain with the original plotline.

If there are any situations/time-frames that you would like to get a closer/funnier look to, let me know. I might feel up to it.

_Enjoy!_

**~Chuunin exams~**

It is an odd moment for a sensei to watch their student pass through those doors. He didn't really know whether they would become Chuunin in one try, but he was sure that they were skillful enough to survive.

Actually, he didn't belief that any ninja of Team 7 would be able impress the other ninja with their 'wisdom' and 'leadership'-qualities to make it to Chuunin.

Especially when it came to Naruto… though he did always have the ability to surprise him.

Maybe he would do so again.

The reason why he let them enter the Chuunin Exam was simple. It was held in Konoha, giving them an advantage over the outsiders. It would give them experience in a –somewhat - safer environment, which would hopefully take the edge off the next time when it was held in another country.

Not to forget, it would show everyone how strong they had grown – they had improved a lot in subtle ways - and it would give them an experience that every ninja needed.

'Is this how you felt Minato-sensei?' He couldn't help but wonder as he watched the three youngsters step into the room, the doors closing behind them.

He eye smiled.

His smile was accompanied with a sweat drop when he heard Naruto make his first impression known to all of the other participants in only a manner that the blond knucklehead could accomplish.

'Just when you thought, he had wisened up just a little bit...'

Yep, Naruto really kept surprising him...

**~A week after the Chuunin Exam Invasion~**

Naruto sat on the roof of his apartment, staring at the glowing moon that illuminated the sky above.

The dark grey rainy clouds that had drenched them to the bone hours ago had drifted away into the distance, giving a clear view of the beautiful sky above.

The genin sighed heavily, thinking back to the many things that had occurred in the last week. He wondered if he could have done anything to change it. If he had been able to injure Orochimaru, or even alert some people, things might have gone different. Jiji would still have been alive…

He squinted his eyes shut as he felt tears building up behind his eyes. He had been able to hold back his grief during the ceremony – the way that a ninja was supposed to respect the death of a fellow ninja – but it was difficult to hold back now. He shouldn't shed tears, he knew. The old man wouldn't have wanted him to cry. He would have told him to move on, to learn from it, and to become stronger.

'Let it help your Will of Fire burn brighter.' He vaguely remembered him saying once.

It made a little more sense now, Naruto thought.

"Ne… Jiji. Maybe you aren't so barmy after all." He whispered, enjoying the breeze that was ruffling his hair.

Instead of the silence that he expected, there was a soft chuckle coming a few feet from his right.

The Jinchuuriki's head snapped towards the direction the sound came from and his rapid heart beat slowly calmed again as he spotted the familiar figure of his sensei. Letting out a soft sigh of relief, he subtly turned away his head in an effort to hide the tears that were threatening to spill out of his eyes.

Naruto waited silently. He expected his sensei to say something, to reply to his comment, but the man remained silent. Getting nervous as the silence continued, he glanced towards the man and quickly looked away as he noted that Kakashi was looking at him with a somewhat pensive expression. He wasn't being judged, seeing as Naruto saw a form of understanding in the man's eye. The man seemed to be studying him instead.

"Naruto?" The Jounin eventually spoke up.

"Yes Sensei?" Naruto answered, pointedly watching the stars instead of looking at the man.

"It is alright for a ninja to let go of his emotions sometimes."

Naruto startled slightly as Kakashi suddenly sounded so much closer to him than before. Unable to ignore the man any longer, he turned his head to face the man that was now crouched right next to him, trying to look him in the eye. Naruto allowed him to lock their gazes. He wasn't afraid of breaking down at any moment anymore, as he had been able to drive the tears back. He was not going to break down.

He was not!

Not in front of his sensei!

As he momentarily glanced away, he completely missed the frown that flashed across the Jounin's face.

"So?"

"You are keeping it all inside." The Jounin stated, poking the boy's head. "That is not healthy for you."

"How would you know?" Naruto complained, pushing the hand away.

The man sighed and let himself flop down next to the teenager. Though such actions would normally scream of sloppiness, he somehow made it look far more gracious than Naruto thought he would ever be able to do himself.

"Personal experience."

"Huh?"

"Personal experience." Kakashi simply repeated, though his tone showed that there was much more to it.

There was a story to it, Naruto realised, that the man wasn't willing to share with him.

For a moment the blond pondered about nagging his sensei to tell him, but he shrugged it of not much later. He wasn't in the mood to be nosy and he would respect his sensei's wishes to remain quiet on the subject. Jiji would have told him to respect them, he knew. So instead, the two of them looked at the clear sky for a few minutes.

"Have you let go of yours?" Kakashi broke the peaceful silence a few minutes later.

"Of what?"

"Your emotions. Frustration, anger, guilt, anything that lingers and doesn't feel right."

Naruto's face turned into one of annoyance and avoided Kakashi's eye. "Yeah." He said with a sad sigh.

"I don't believe you." Kakashi drawled, giving him a pointed look.

"I'm fine!"

"It's not like you to lie."

"I'm not lying."

"That's another lie." He pointed out with a sigh. 'We need to work on his deception skills some time in the future.'

"Just leave me alone sensei!" The blond eventually snapped, crossing his arms in defence.

Next to him, Kakashi's eye narrowed before he put his hand on the teen's shoulder, causing him to flinch. The Jounin was sure that Naruto wasn't going to like this, but with his vibrant personality – not the mention the fact that he was the Jinchuuriki – it was dangerous for him to bottle up all those emotions. He already had a temper and there was no need to stimulate this.

Kakashi had some teaching to do.

"I'm afraid I can't do that." Kakashi stated, holding up his other hand in a half-ram seal.

Naruto turned his head to him. "What are yo-"

The teen couldn't finish his question as he was literally picked up and dragged away. He stumbled as his feet hit the ground again. The genin was caught before he was gently flopped down the grass. It took him a moment to realise that they were at their usual training field. Taking a deep breath, he glared at the man that was standing a few feet away from him.

Sitting up and pointing to the man, Naruto yelled at him. "Why did you do that?"

"It's kind of my job." The Jounin drawled, though his eyes didn't hold his usual casualness to them.

"No it's not!"

"Your problems are my problems Naruto. Got a problem with it?" The man asked, tugging his hands into his pockets.

Naruto's eyebrow twitched in annoyance and he fell his ire rising. Who did Kakashi-sensei think he was? Alright, so he might be a high-ranked Jounin, the Copycat ninja that was known world-wide and the man may have his own page in the Bingo book and his sensei, but he still didn't have the right to drag Naruto around like that! Nor could he just stand there with that air of authority and look down on him like that!

Unnoticed to the young teen, his hands were clenched so tightly that his knuckles were white and his eyes were flickering red for just a moment.

Seeing as he had some seals from Jiraiya in his pouch, should things get very wrong, Kakashi didn't feel very threathened. Kakashi carefully took note of every detail though, since wariness was still essential. This reaction was exactly what he was trying to provoke and he steadied himself to react instantly when the boy would snap.

He didn't need to wait long.

"WHY can't you just let ME BE?!"

"You are not grieving in a healthy way." Kakashi stared at him with a fake disinterested glance, forcing his hands to stay in his pocket as an act to make the genin think that his guard was down.

"Who says I'm not? You don't understand me at all! You -

"I think I understand you more than you think."

"-don't understand my feelings at all! You can't drag me away like that!." Naruto continued, before realising that the man had said something. "What did you say?"

Oh, but he could, Kakashi thought. Noting that he was getting closer to the boy's limit, he decided to pass them.

He knew exactly what to do.

"Hn." He imitated the Uchiha's familiar sound to the tiniest detail.

'Did he just…' Naruto wondered for one second before something snapped in the back of his head.

Growling, he charged forward and moved to punch his sensei. His eyes narrowed when the punch was easily caught by only one hand, the other still in his pocket. He glared up to his sensei, seeing that the man was watching him with an odd look in his eye. It was an intense stare that made Naruto feel as if he was looking right through him.

"Oh believe me, I do." Kakashi's tone had changed, but Naruto didn't really paid mind to it.

Kakashi let his hand go and poked Naruto in the chest near his heart in return before the Genin could defend himself.

"It hurts right there." He told the teenager, meeting Naruto's blazing blue eyes again that were glaring at him with a somewhat sad look.

Naruto moved to swat his hand away, but his hand was already gone.

"-and you feel incredibly heavy there." He tapped the genin's stomach this time.

"Stop it Sensei!" Naruto warned, swiping a punch at the man, but he easily dodged.

"Not to forget the feeling of your air being constricted when you think about it." Kakashi continued after he gently slapped away the arm that was trying to block him and poked his chest again.

He caught the boy as he made a move to tackle him and used his momentum to get him to the ground, holding him much like how he had hold Sasuke at after the Bell test.

He tapped the boy's head.

"You can't help but think about the 'what if's'." He said, his tone a little more forcefully this time, while his narrowed eye carefully kept track of his student's emotional state.

Naruto practically snarled.

"You can't help but want to forget for a while and feel guilty about it." Kakashi continued.

"Shut up!"

He allowed the boy to struggle out of his grasp. He put one of his hands back in his pockets as the boy stood a few feet away from him, breathing angrily. The other hand was used to point at the Genin.

"Finally, you can't help but be disappointed that he – or anyone - wasn't strong enough to save him."

That had been the last drop,

The Jounin's hand flashed out of his pocket and he instinctively crossed his arms as a chakra-enhanced punch was aimed right to the centre of his chest. He suppressed the hiss that nearly escaped his lips, as he felt the little bit of red chakra burn his arms.

That was going to sting.

"You don't know anything!" Naruto barked.

"Then tell me!" He demanded slightly raising his voice for once.

To his relief, Naruto followed his order without fully thinking about it.

"I wanted him to see me becoming Hokage!" Naruto yelled, attacking him once more.

Kakashi just let him attack and blocked, knowing that the sensation of hitting something did actually help. Dodging would only make the Genin angrier. He was already angry enough, he decided and grunted as said anger made the Genin's punches slightly more powerful than he had expected.

Naruto lashed out again.

"I want to be able do eat Ramen with him again!"

Another punch.

"I want him to chide me for painting the Hokage Monument again!"

Another.

"I want him to hug me again!" Naruto cried.

Kakashi intercepted an angry kick.

"Why didn't he see this coming? He should have right? He was the freaking Hokage! Why didn't he send people out to search for that stupid Orochimaru-baka! He normally knows everything! So why not this?"

Kakashi blocked another punch to his side.

"Why?!"

The Jounin patiently kept up with the punches that followed and noted that the demonic chakra decreased with each punch. He was nearly reaching his limit...

"I wanted him to see me grow up! S-So much!" The genin's voice got a little chocked up.

"I-I just wanted to say _goodbye_ to him!" Naruto yelled to him, tears rolling down his face.

He shook his head in frustration as he reared his arm back once again.

"I wanted to make him proud!"

_Smack!_

Kakashi caught the fist in the palm of his hand, inches away from his chest, while careful not to break the boy's hand as he did.

This time, Naruto didn't even bother to retract his hand from its position. Instead he stood there hunched over, looking down on the ground as his arm was stretched out in front of him. His body was shaking and eventually the familiar sound of a sob escaped the Genin's lips.

"Why?"

Kakashi's eye had long since softened as he saw his student break down in front of him. He had known that the teenager had needed this. It had been exactly what Naruto's Jiji had done for him after… everyone's death. Just like Kakashi, Naruto wouldn't be able to let it all out on his own. They were both too stubborn.

Deciding to make an exception of his usual comforting techniques, he wrapped his hand around the teenager's wrist and pulled him closer. He didn't pull him in a hug exactly, only held out his arm in a somewhat awkward invitation, but Naruto didn't need more than that. He stumbled closer to the man and leaned against his sensei, letting his emotions go as the tears rolled down his face and dripped onto the ground.

"Why?"

Kakashi, who wasn't sure what to say, decided to copy the words that had been told to him at the time by the man that they were currently mourning.

"Because it shows just how much you cared about someone. Losing people is never easy Naruto, but it is part of life. As long as it hurts to lose someone, you know that you are still human." Kakashi muttered, patting the teen's head as he tried to keep his own voice from croaking.

He patiently waited for his student to calm down and when he finally did, he didn't object when the student remained in his personal space just a little longer.

The situation made him think back to the years of ANBU and the times that he had comforted the young child Naruto back then. He could still remember how awkward he felt when the young boy had suddenly clung to his shirt and cries his eyes out. His college silently laughing behind his mask – he never had gotten proof that he did, but he just knew that the man had.

'At least I have gotten better at it.' Kakashi decided.

Letting out a deep sigh, Naruto collected his emotions and finally stepped back. Rubbing his eyes with the back of his sleeve, he looked away, feeling somewhat embarrassing.

"Sorry about that."

"Don't worry about it. Do you feel better?"

The boy blinked up at him, before a small sad smile slipped on his lips. "Yeah, a little lighter I think."

Kakashi smiled at him. "Good."

There was a slightly awkward moment for Kakashi as he took a step away from the child, unsure of what to do now he had done his job.

"Want me to bring you back?" He offered while rubbing his arms, knowing that they were going to sting.

Naruto glanced somewhat uncomfortably at the gesture. "Does that hurt?"

"Don't worry about it. Yes or no?" He waved it off and Naruto looked at his feet.

"No, I need to clear my head a little more."

"Iruka is probably still up."

Naruto's head perked up.

"How did you know that I was- Never mind." He cut himself of as he saw the amused look in the man's eyes.

Kakashi just chuckled and ruffled his hair. "Jounin's secret. See you tomorrow."

Truthfully, he had heard Iruka complain in the Hokage Tower about a pile of paperwork that was going to take him all night to get done. But it would be too bad to destroy his seemingly knowing-everything image of his cute little student.

"Hai Sensei. Er- Thank you for, well…" Naruto gestured to his chest.

"Sometimes it takes a little help to get it out. Sandaime-sama and my sensei taught me that as well." Kakashi told him. "Also, I won't talk about this to anyone if you don't want to."

Naruto nodded and even seemed a little relieved. "Yeah. Thanks sensei."

"Ja ne!" Kakashi bid farewell, tapping his head, before disappearing in a puff of swirl of leafs.

Naruto stared at the empty spot that was left and shook his head.

"Well at least Sasuke-baka won't hear of this."

Kakashi-sensei was pretty cool, but why did he feel like he was missing something? There had been something about that hug that had given him a déjà vu moment.

He shook his head and turned into the direction, he knew Iruka lived. Maybe he was up for a late-night Ramen snack...

On his costs of course...

**~ About three weeks later ~**

Kakashi watched with the rest of Konoha as Tsunade accepted the new title of Hokage.

There was a roar of approval as she finished her speech, once that he participated in, although as a softer level.

A younger and far louder cry of agreement that stuck out from the roar sounded very familiar.

A quick glance to his left confirmed that his blond student was cheering loudly and he smiled in amusement. Jiraiya had told him what happened and he couldn't help but be amazed by the gift that Naruto seemed to possess. The most incredible was that Naruto didn't even notice what he was doing. The Sandaime had always been talking about the Will of Fire and Kakashi could easily understand why he had always spoken so proudly of it when it came to Naruto.

Naruto was not only a prime example of someone Will of Fire, but he was also able to pass them to other people.

Even to people who's flame might have dimmed, or even died.

The Jounin glanced towards the newly appointed Hokage-sama and couldn't hold back the smile that was hidden behind his mask.

'It seems that he hasn't only fuelled my inner fire, Tsunade-sama."

Then he stepped towards his students - making sure to come up behind them to keep up his reputaion of appearing out of nowhere.

"Ma, Naruto no need to make the ears of those around you ring. Hi Sakura."

"Hi Sensei." The girl returned his greeting, though her thoughts where obviously elsewhere as she stared at the woman on the Hokage Tower.

Hm.. now he thought about it... Sasuke was hiding again. The Jounin frowned as he thought of his troubled student. He felt like time was running out. He had seen the look in his eyes. Maybe he needed to have a little 'talk' with him.

"Kakashi-sensei! Where have you been?" Naruto greeted brightly, breaking him out of his thoughts.

"Around." He drawled. 'Doing some S-ranked missions to get Konoha back in order'.

He was not going to share that with them. They might start to get worried.

Naruto huffed at his evasive answer. "Well I have been working very hard! I also learned an awesome new Jutsu! You should see it! It took me a while to get it down, but Tsunade-Baa-chan said I wouldn't get it-"

"Naruto." A hand on his head disrupted the boy's rambling.

"Huh?"

"Good Job."

The grin on Naruto's face threatened to split the boy's face.

As he absently listened to his student's tale, he couldn't help but glance towards his female student who was staring off into the distance with a absent look on her face.

"Sakura."

"Hai?" She snapped out of her thoughts and looked at him.

He smiled at her. "We will make it through. See you guys tomorrow. Ja ne."

"What do you mean?" She asked, confused.

But he had already disappeared in a puff of smoke.

Naruto huffed. "Kakashi-sensei is acting so weird sometimes!"

Sakura's expression turned pensive, but she eventually nodded in agreement.

"Yeah."

**~A few days later~**

How could he have been so _stupid_?

"Naruto, hold on." He told the boy as he rushed back to Konoha.

'If it weren't for Kyuubi…'

His heart twisted painfully in his chest. If it hadn't been for the demon, he would have lost another student. He had already lost one. Sasuke had made his choice, he was aware of the dark mindset that had seemed to drive the child, but he couldn't help but feel like he should have done more. He had lost his student to the darkness that he had feared would overtake the boy.

He had tried to change the boy's mind. He had followed the advice from the Hokage –which may have been indirectly been given by de Council - to give Sasuke something to show that he could become strong in Konoha as well, but it seemed that it had only made things worse.

It would be one more regret that he could add to the list.

He had failed. He had failed once again.

Obito. Minato-sensei. Rin. ANBU teammates, other ninja that he had worked with…

For being called a prodigy so many times, he had sure failed a lot.

"Sensei?" Came a soft sluggish drawl.

He felt a little bit of weight fall of his shoulders as he heard the strained voice of his other student call out to him.

"Yes."

"Did Sasuke?…" Naruto didn't finish the question, but the Jounin knew what he was asking.

"Yes." Kakashi wasn't sure how he had sounded when he said it, but it must have been very disappointed and angry since Naruto flinched.

"Oh…"

A second later Naruto's form slumped down again and the boy was back to sleep. Kakashi didn't decelerate his sprint until he had reached Konoha's walls, nor did he leave his student's side until he had reached the Hospital. Once he was sure that his student would be taken care off, he tried to calm down Sakura. Still, the girl was more than aware of what had happened and was too depressed to snap out of it at once.

Kakashi made a note to talk to her later, but first he would have to report that a certain Uchiha had abandoned Konoha.

Something told him that he wouldn't be able to get some sleep for a while.

Not that he deserved any…

He was the worst Sensei ever.

**~ End Chapter ~**

That's it for now. Some more attention to Sakura next chapter. A donation (some feedback or comment) to this writer's brain would be very much appreciated.


	6. Chapter 6

**Title:** Above the Underneath

**Summary**: "Careful Kakashi-sensei. Look too closely at underneath the underneath and you may fail to see what is right in front of you." Kakashi regarded the blond pensively for a moment, before he eye-smiled. "You have grown a lot from the hyperactive five-year-old that I babysat." No Yaoi.

**Yaoi?: Nope!**

**Beta: **None

Hi everyone! Is it me or are people disappearing? Sure I'm not a frequent updater or anything but it feels like a lot of people vanish. Not only writers but readers as well. Ah well, hopefully they will be back from their holiday soon right?

Actually, a holiday sounds rather good...

Anyway please enjoy!

** ~A few weeks later~**

Kakashi was worried for his team… especially the two that remained behind now that their teammate had turned a traitor. He had been somewhat relieved that the Toad Sannin had practically demanded to let Naruto travel with him for a few years. Had Jiraiya not demanded to take Naruto with him, Kakashi would have gone as far as begging anyway.

Reluctantly, Kakashi realised that he just had to accept that he just wasn't made out to be a teacher. He had failed his team. The least he could do was to make sure that his students would be able to find better ones. Actually, he was trying to get them the best out there. It was the least he could do after he had failed them like that.

So when Jiraiya had offered it on his own, he had easily (eagerly) agreed, seeing as Naruto would learn a lot from the older man. Not to mention that it would put an end to this desperate attempts to get Sasuke back for a while. It would be a good distraction.

Distraction was something that all of them needed right now.

That had left Sakura. Even though she still wanted to train with him, Kakashi didn't think it was enough. Just like Naruto, she deserved to be taught by the best as well.

The young girl also needed, so to speak, a Kunoichi's touch – or maybe a punch or two.

Which led him to...

"You want me to consider me to _what_?!"

Kakashi shifted his stance slightly as he regarded the new Hokage in front of him. He knew of her ideas regarding medic-ninja. He also knew that Sakura would have a lot of potential to be one if she were to push herself.

"Sakura is currently lacking any true skills that she can use to protect those around her. Her teammates have always been ahead of her in that department. Still, I made sure that her basics were perfect, which they are. In time, I had expected that she would not allow herself to be…"

He deliberately took some time to search for the right word. "Undriven like that… any longer and decide on the direction that she wanted to pursue. She is very intelligent and she's very passionate Tsunade-sama. She is also stronger when she needs to protect someone rather than to face someone head on. I am sure that she would strive as a medic-ninja."

There was a long pause and the woman crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back.

Kakashi winched at the movements of her body language.

"I wouldn't even consider it if she wasn't intelligent Kakashi. I know that _you_ wouldn't even consider it either." Tsunade argued, regarding him with a pensive expression. "You seem to be very confident in her skills, even though you say that they are lacking."

"The basics are excellent. Her finest skill, her perfect chakra control, would be wasted if she were not to use it." The ex-ANBU stated.

Tsunade stared at him for a long while and Kakashi patiently waited for her to come to a decision, knowing that the woman in front of him was stubborn and shouldn't be provoked.

"Basics huh?" She muttered and looked at him somewhat suspiciously. "I think you saw her potential a while ago then..."

Kakashi said nothing, but he didn't deny it either.

The corner of the woman's lip twitched upward for a second.

"I see. I will consider it." The Sannin spoke up after a while. There was a moment of relief, however the Jounin felt that there was a 'but' following.

He was right.

"At least, once she dares to come and ask me on her _own_." She finished, giving him a pointed look.

Kakashi didn't answer. He had just been indirectly ordered not to nudge his student. It was a test on its own, he knew. If Sakura had the guts to ask the Hokage of all people to train her, she would show just how determined she was.

"Are you still confident that she will do so?" She asked him gauging his reaction.

Kakashi simply smiled boldly.

"Hai."

The twitch in her lips was more pronounced this time.

"Then I hope that you don't overestimate your team, Kakashi. Now make sure to finish the report for the mission this morning. I want the report on my desk tomorrow. Dismissed."

The Jounin nodded and hopped out of the window.

"And use that damn door next time!"

A week later, Kakashi and Jirayia returned from their mission and Kakashi was told that Sakura had paid the Hokage a visit.

At the next meeting with the Hokage, he had met Tsunade's suspicious glare with an innocent smile. He hadn't done anything wrong as far as he knew.

After all, the coincidence of having a small scroll on healing jutsu lying near Sakura's usual studying spot at that one particular table in the library didn't really count right?

**~A few weeks later~**

"So Naruto, are you ready to go?"

"Hai!" Kakashi smiled as he saw his student return to his usual hyper attitude.

"Well, I expect you to be a lot stronger when you come back… and taller."

"S_ensei_." The boy huffed, playfully swatting away the hand that was teasingly patting his head.

Kakashi chuckled.

"Ne Sensei." The tone suddenly sounded so serious that Kakashi was slightly caught of guard.

"Yes?"

"Will you keep an eye on Sakura-chan for me?"

The Jounin frowned slightly at the look that Naruto was sending him. "Of course, Even though she is now Tsunade's apprentice, I will still be her sensei, you know." He pointed out, wondering if he should feel offended that Naruto actually felt like telling him to look after her.

_And I will still be your sensei as well… _

Those words made the boy turn slightly sheepish.

"I didn't mean it like that! It's just… we aren't really Team 7 anymore, you know?" The boy explained, his eyes turning sad as they glanced towards the window.

He was probably wondering where Sasuke was and Kakashi couldn't blame him. He often wondered the same, just because he wanted to drag that arrogant Uchiha-brat back and tell him exactly why you didn't betray your teammates like he had done. It was frustrating to see that the one first thing you tried to teach your student was the first lesson that proved to be for nothing. So instead of arguing with the boy, he let out a thoughtful hum.

"I will look out for her." The Jounin reassured him, meaning every word of it.

"Good, or I would have to hunt you down and make you regret it." Naruto stated so seriously that Kakashi wondered whether he was joking.

"Of course." He answered anyway.

Even though the genin grinned at him a second later, he was still sure that Naruto had meant every single word of it.

The fact that he easily changed topic made it even more suspicious for the ANBU.

"It's so cool that she got Tsunade-baa-chan to teach her all on her own!"

Kakashi couldn't help but grin mentally when he heard that… and to allow himself a mental pat on the back or two.

"Ma… you might want to call her Hokage-sama, Naruto." He drawled distractedly.

Naruto glanced up at the man and narrowed his eyes when he saw the look in the man's eye.

"Did you have anything to do with it?" He accused, ignoring the man's advice completely – not that he would have listened to it anyway.

Kakashi's shrugged nonchalantly. "She asked it on her own."

"So you _didn't?_" Naruto gauged, prodding, nudged suspiciously.

"I didn't what?"

"_Sensei_."

The Jounin let out an amused chuckle. "She got the spot because she is strong enough to get it. She will learn a lot from Tsunade-sama."

Naruto huffed at his refusal to answer but allowed the man to change the topic anyway.

"What is she going to learn?"

"Just something that I had been planning on introducing her. She has the perfect chakra control for it." The Jounin allowed to slip. "Though I would have never been a good teacher for it."

Naruto frowned. "I don't get it."

"You will see when you come back."

Naruto glared at him, obviously not happy with the arrangement. "Why can't you tell me now?" He whined.

"What would be the fun of that?"

"You _are_ no fun Kakashi-sensei." The blond grumbled, earning a playful whack on the back of his head.

"No respect for your superiors these days." He complained and faked a suffering sigh.

Naruto just laughed at him.

"I'm gonna miss you Sensei." He quite abruptly proclaimed and rubbed the back of his neck as he did.

Kakashi's eye actually widened for a moment before they softened slightly.

"Ma, it will sure get quiet and boring without the Number One Suprising Ninja around."

Naruto grinned proudly at him, as he not that dumb to miss the intention behind his words.

_I'm gonna miss you too brat. _

"I know right? Maybe I should leave them a goodbye gift?"

"Let's not go quite that far..."

**~ Later~ **

"I will take good care of him. You don't have to worry."

Walking towards his apartment, Kakashi glanced towards the tall Sannin next to him, somewhat annoyed by the fact that the man seemed to be able to read him so well.

"I didn't expect anything else. He will be able to learn a lot from you." The masked Jounin agreed, though a rueful tone slipped through at the end before he could stop himself.

He mentally hit himself as he saw Jiraiya give him a thoughtful look.

The two remained silent for a while. Both were more than aware that either could leave the moment that they wanted to, seeing as the important information about Akatsuki and Naruto's emotional state and training tactics had already been discussed.

"You know, he respects you very much." Jiraiya spoke up again, referring to their blond student.

"He shouldn't. I haven't been able to teach him as well as I wished." Kakashi answered, knowing that the Sannin was already aware of his inner regrets.

"You have done better than you realised."

"…"

The toad Sannin chuckled at Kakashi's reluctance – refusal - to accept the indirect compliment.

"Whatever brat. At least let me compliment you from fixing those mistakes that the Academy had left."

He smirked as the Jounin shot his a questioning look. "Tsunade doesn't mind to talk about him. He reminds her a lot of her little brother."

Kakashi nodded thoughtfully. "He worked hard."

"That still needs a lot of patience."

Kakashi didn't answer and Jiraiya sighed.

"_Look_ Kakashi. You made sure that your team's basic development was perfected. They are each perfect to be shaped to their full potential. That is honestly the best thing that teachers like Tsunade-hime and I can ask for. So thank you."

'Yes… and Orochimaru now has his hands on Sasuke…'A pessimistic part of Kakashi's brain immediately supplied.

"There is no need to th-" He started.

"I said _thank you_, brat." Jiraiya broke him off and Kakashi finally looked at him again.

The Sannin was glad when he saw his eye look a little brighter than before.

"You're welcome." The Jounin slowly stated.

The words sounded more like a thanks of it's own.

"You're welcome. Now just make sure to take care of yourself in the meantime. Otherwise I will sick Tsunade-hime on you. I'm sure that after all your years as a dog." - _Inu_ _–_ " without a single unnecessary break has left you one hell of a holiday if you wanted… or forced to."

Kakashi shuddered at the subtle threat. " Hai."

The next day, Kakashi made sure to see the boy off to his journey.

The fact that he came on time to see him off meant more to Naruto than he would ever realise.

**~ About two years later ~**

Kakashi strolled down the street, his nose in the book, as he easily moved around obstacles on his path.

If one took a careful look at his eye, they wouldn't notice it gliding over the page. However, the eye seemed unfocused, as if the man was in thought. His hand automatically flipped the page of the book that he knew by heart as he continued to think, disguising it as being busy reading.

At the moment, his thoughts went back to his team.

It still hurt to know that he had failed them, but there was nothing that he could do about it.

He had forced himself to push that behind him and live with the mistakes. He had more than enough experience with dealing with stuff like that. He didn't care if it was unhealthy.

Luckily, time passed quickly and being busy made dealing with it easier.

Naruto's absence had been very noticeable. There had been moments that he had desperately missed the boy, the bright escape of dark missions that the blond unknowingly provided. Sakura had missed the blond as well, Kakashi knew, though it had allowed the two of them to grow closer as well.

"Kakashi-sensei! You are back!"

"Yo!" He greeted her happily in his usual bored drawl. "You look well Sakura."

She smiled at him. "Training is hell, but I'm improving. Tsunade can be such a harsh task-master."

Kakashi didn't doubt that.

"You on the other hand look like hell! Have you even eaten yet?" She asked with a suspicious stare.

"I was just on my way, but you see there was this black cat and-". He started feebly.

In truth, he hadn't even thought about eating yet.

The two of them had grown somewhat closer over the years, being the two that were 'left behind' so to speak. There was no romance between them, against the belief of the few people who were speculating it. Kakashi couldn't help but find the thought ridiculous. Some might consider him a pervert, but he was not a paedophile.

Still, they had grown closer. Mostly because Sakura started to speak her mind around him once she realised that he didn't mind her doing so.

So about one and half year ago, Sakura admitted that she had felt left out a lot in team 7 and Kakashi had accepted this and apologised – somewhat awkwardly and indirectly. Sakura had been quick to tell the Jounin that she understood his reasoning back then. She had become a lot more driven and self-aware.

"Okay, that's it! I'm dragging you along with me! You're paying!" Sakura insisted, breaking him out of his musings.

"Ah, but that's not really necess-" He sighed when she took his arm and dragged him along anyway.

A few minutes later they sat in one of Sakura's favorite restaurants, enjoying their meals. Kakashi had to admit that the food did him good. He hadn't realised he had been feeling so off after the mission. Though it was to be expected. ANBU missions were difficult and taxing, physically and psychologically. Sakura's rambling helped him relax and put his actions behind him.

"I was such a fool back then." She had sighed sadly, referring to two years ago. "Love stuck and whiny."

Kakashi had smiled at her, not denying anything seeing as she would know that he was lying.

"Well you have grown up a lot." He had told her instead with a smile. "You're skills are improving rapidly."

"Thanks Kakashi-sensei." She smiled.

"I will be leaving tomorrow." He said after a while, after having vanished another part of his meal. He couldn't help but grin mentally as he saw Sakura's frustration for having missed seeing him mask-less once again.

"Again?" She exclaimed with surprise. "Is that even allowed?"

"I didn't get hurt during last mission." Kakashi defended himself.

"You look exhausted!"

"Nothing a good night sleep won't fix." He shot back, amused by her inner medic popping up.

"One night sleep is not enough."

Kakashi chuckled at her stubborness. Like teacher like students...

"I will be fine. It's just a check-up."

Sakura frowned but sighed in defeat nonetheless.

'Check-ups' often referred to a simple scout-like mission to see if everything was in order. It rarely involved any fighting whatsoever, just a lot of running. Kakashi was known to be fast, so it wasn't that odd for Jounin's to be picked for such easy missions if timing was important. Sometimes they were used to give a Jounin a break but to keep them from getting too restless as most didn't function well with having nothing to do - Jounin like Kakashi.

"Well… have fun then."She conceded.

"Thanks." He said, deciding against telling his student about his 'special destination' that the check-up would bring him to.

Not to mention the 'certain knucklehead' that he might see.

Had she known, Sakura probably would have insisted on tagging along.

After all, she might not really state it out loud like that, but she clearly missed Naruto a lot.

**~ End Chapter ~**

Next time, certain 'ANBU' meets older Naruto. Though not much can go wrong with that situation right?...


End file.
